Awesome Being Evil
by DredPirateBones
Summary: Gilbert had one job, convince someone to commit suicide. It should have been easy for a demon such as him. Too bad he picked his best friend's son without realizing it. (Sequel to 'Devilish Magic')
1. Chapter 1

It was a 'beautiful' day in Hell. It was hot and the screams of tortured souls made the demon Gilbert Beilschmidt lick his lips, tasting the pain and torment they were in, as he crouched on his rocky perch overlooking it all. The 'sun' was high in the black sky, the ground was so hot that fires would randomly start here and there, and not just small fires that would sputter out, no these fires would reach up to Gilbert's waist at times. Gilbert ran a hand through his snow white hair and scanned Hell with his red eyes, looking for something to do, and finding nothing.

"Ah, amigo, there you are!" a voice called out.

Gilbert looked over his shoulder to see one of his 'friends' land softly with that damned sunny smile on his face as he tucked his bat like wings against his back. The demon Antonio was a 'happy' person, all cheers, smiles, easy laughs, and sun shine but that's all a farce. If you put Antonio on a hunt then it all turned to nightmares, rivers of blood, and dead bodies.

Gilbert was something different, he took the lives of soldiers, being a dead soldier himself the Devil thought the irony was priceless and put him to the task of carting the evil souls from the battlefield down to Hell.

Sometimes though the Devil would have him do other things.

"Hey," Gilbert mumbled and turned to look back over Hell.

"Uh... Listen, I was sent to tell you-"

"Fine." Gilbert cut him off, frowning, and launched himself over the cliff. Snapping his own bat-like wings out as he entered free fall. "Time to work huh?" he mumbled under his breath as he flew toward Beelzebub's castle.

What would take an hour of walking, Gilbert flew in five minutes. He landed lightly on one of the castle's balcony's railing, dropping into a crouch to keep his balance as his tail worked to help.

"There you are, my favorite son, I was wondering how long it'd take dear Antonio to find you," purred a deep voice from within the castle. Gilbert painted a cruel grin onto his face as he licked his lips again, the taste of suffering souls was much stronger here, and he hated it but to stay in the Devil's favor he had to keep up the act.

He had to. A large man walked out onto the balcony, 9 feet tall with black hair and huge horns growing from his forehead. He went shirtless so that his massive bat wings, torn and crusted with dried blood, had room and he wore tight jeans complete with a hat.

"Go to Earth. I want to see if you have the talent required to make a teenager commit suicide," The Devil purred. "Feel free to pull your pranks while you're at it." He said and tipped his hat to Gilbert. The action sent shivers down his spine.

"Sounds like fun." Gilbert growled and took to the sky. He flew straight up into the 'sun' but it was really the portal to Earth.

He wanted to puke.


	2. Chapter 2

The cold air rushed past pale skin and brushed back white hair with gentle fingers as the demon flew high in the night sky. If you looked up at him just right you would notice his hair seemed to glow and the moon outlined him perfectly. The demon wore a black hoodie with a crowned skull on one side and a stich design wrapped around it and a small section of it on the other side, a black and white 'jail-bird' shirt, jeans and red high tops.

Crimson eyes snapped open and scanned the ground that rushed by below him. Bat-like wings beat the air as the demon slowed down and looked for a certain house. The house of the only person on Earth whom he loved was a simple one, white with brown trimming. Smiling softly, the demon dove. The rush from free falling was a joy that the demon was positive would never get boring. At the last minute his wings unfurled and stopped him from smacking face first into the bedroom window.

Normally a demon can't enter someone's house unless invited but the last time Ludwig, the demon's still living younger brother, saw him the blonde had said that he was welcome back at any time. Using the flat end of his spade shaped tail, the demon; Gilbert; unlocked the window and silently crept inside. It was dark but Gilbert could still see perfectly. He carefully closed the window and relocked it then turned around to face the two human shaped lumps in the bed.

Brown hair peeked out from under the huge quilt as the other person buried themselves but Ludwig, thankfully, didn't sleep like he was hiding from the bogy man. Gilbert could see his brother's peaceful face, blonde bangs hanging down and not in the usual sleeked back hair style. He tiptoed over to his brother's side of the bed and crouched down, putting his hands inside his hoodie's pockets. Despite himself, Gilbert smiled at him; Ludwig was always so calm, collected, and serious, so much so that he almost never smiled. It was nice to see him so relaxed plus it made him look younger, almost like the little kid he used to be.

Gilbert reached out and gently pushed his brother's hair away from his face when a picture on the bedside table caught his eye. It had Ludwig and a brunette man in it, though the brunette looked like a girl it was clearly a guy and one strand of hair curled away from his face. The albino stood to get a better look. His brother had a slight blush on his face as the brunette hung on his arm with a smile so big Gilbert wondered how his face didn't split.

Maybe it did.

"It's good to see you found someone, West." Gilbert whispered as he looked back at Ludwig. It was obvious how much he loved the brunette; he didn't let anyone hang on him, not even Gilbert when he was alive. Sighing, Gilbert crouched down again to watch over his baby brother. The moon light made his sun-kissed skin look as pale as the demon's own on a clear day; in a word he looked angelic.

After a while of sitting and thinking Gilbert walked down stairs to his brother's office in search of paper and a pen. When he found what he was looking for he carefully wrote his brother a letter, being sure to keep Ludwig's desk clean. Even though it was full of paper work it was organized and not a speck of dust or pencil shaving dared touch it.

 _Hallo West,  
See you got yourself drowned in paperwork again. Just dropped by to see you, I'll be taking Gilbird with me this time, thanks for taking care of him for me. Don't worry I'll drop him off again when I have to go back.  
E.  
P.S. he's cute _

Gilbert drew a winking kitty face at the end and put the note on top of the stack of papers that he knew Ludwig would get started on in the morning. Satisfied that he made it cryptic enough that only Ludwig would know that the note was from him, Gilbert turned and made his way into the living room where Ludwig kept Gilbird's cage.

The living room was like the rest of the house, clean and tidy, in the corner away from the major traffic areas but still easily in reach was a bird cage hanging from a hooked pole. Gilbert opened it and retrieved the yellow bird from his perch. He shoved the hood of his black hoodie off and carefully put the sleeping Gilbird inside it. Small devil horns the same color as his hair protruded outward, with the hood on it looked like animal ears of some sort had been sewed on to the hood but now it just looked like he styled his hair like a moron, in Gilbert's opinion anyway. Not only that but now you could tell that his ears were pointed.

Gilbert crept back into Ludwig's room to leave but stopped at the window and looked back at the two sleeping forms. They hadn't moved. Chewing on his lower lip, Gilbert wondered if Ludwig wanted to talk or if he should just let him sleep. The albino sighed and walked back to his brother, kissed his forehead like he use to when their parents were away on business and Gilbert tucked him in at night. Then he left. If the Devil wanted him to talk someone into committing suicide then he sure as hell was not going to let it be someone potentially close to his brother or his boyfriend.

Cold air rushed past so fast it made his eyes water and he had to squint them as he flew as fast as he could to England.

 _That's far enough away right?_ Gilbert wondered then he shook his head. _No, no it's not. Better be safe and go to Norway-No! Iceland. Wait no…oh screw it I'm going to the states!_


	3. Chapter 3

Gilbert sat under a red wood tree in Oregon. It was a sunny day, his favorite weather for one reason, Gilbird sang his little heart out when the sun shone and after 2 days of flying over the North Pacific Ocean he was perfectly content to watch and listen to his yellow ball of feathers as he took it easy.

Gilbert yawned, stretched and pulled his wings into his back; he could feel his pale skin melt over them as he flopped down onto his back. He knew from experience that if someone were to look they'd find what looked like a massive bruise when in all reality you could see the leathery part of his wings through his skin.

Gilbird hopped to a new branch and resumed his happy tune, a smile tugged on the albino's lips as he watched. God how he missed being alive but this was good enough for him. He stayed there for hours listening to his bird sing and enjoying the sun shining down through the thick leaves of the ancient red woods but all things come to an end. Gilbert stood, groaning in disappointment and slight pain, he gave a low whistle.

Gilbrid flew down from his perch and chirped once more before taking his usual place in his owner's silver hair, which was hidden under his dark hood.

For fun, Gilbert started running through the forest, leaping over fallen trees and ducking under low branches, dodging around some of the ones he couldn't and jumping from rock to rock and over a small creek. It was the closest thing he'd been to flying, the wind tossing his hair around and his lungs burning. A half fallen tree caught his eye, he ran up it like a ramp and then jumped, unfurling his wings and taking to the sky. He flew to the closest city, which happened to be Newport.

Gilbert snorted.

Newport his ass, there was nothing new here, oh sure there was that huge bridge in the distance and everything was modern, nothing run down but there was nothing that screamed 'I'm new'. The demon circled the city once, looking for a target on the street or a high school that might hold a suitable target, upon finding none to his liking he decided to go to the next state. Only he didn't know when this state ended and the next one began, shrugging he flew away.

Before he even knew it, Gilbert found himself gazing down at rolling hills of shamrock green and huge brown animals. As he continued on the hills flattened out a little and huge white caped mountains loomed on the horizon. He looked down and saw a man riding a horse herding cows with the help of a brown dog.

Gilbert felt disgusted, he hated America with a burning passion rivaled by none but what he hated more was the cowboys of the country. Hard working men that didn't know the meaning of the word 'play' or 'fun' that turned into old prunes with an attitude problem because they've worked in the open elements all their life.

They were homophobic, anti-choice; trigger happy, psycho Christens with giant belt buckles with their names on it that they wear upside down so they can go 'Oh shit, that's my name!' It made him shutter just thinking about them. They all needed to loosen up a little and have a fucking beer.

Well at least he could be thankful that he wasn't in Texas. Last time he was there he got on the wrong side of some dude just because of a comment about the hats being really big and then next thing he knows is that he's being chased by gun-toting Texan militia psycho paths.

In the end he had to kill them all, accidentally putting himself in the Devil's favor.

Gilbert hovered there, watching the cowboy and wondered if it would be any fun to prank him.

Gilbert stomped his way around town, choosing to stay invisible, it had been a month since he got here and he still didn't have any one to whisper suicide to. If he was truthful with himself he would admit that he was lost but he was to awesome to be lost damn it! One thing did go well, however, he was able to pull his pranks, and he had started out small by killing a fly and putting it in someone's soup, he didn't care enough to see who it was.

He put a sharp pebble in someone's shoe, dropped a banana peel and watched a young girl slip on it, she fell on her back and hit her head hard enough to bring tears to her eyes and he had laughed.

Gilbert came across a park, it was small and no one was there. Gilbird chirped from his spot in Gilbert's hair. He smiled up at the yellow ball and in that moment he decided. He found a bench and sat down on it; he reached up under his hood and took Gilbird from his hair then set him down on his lap. The bird chirped again and tilted his head.

Smiling softly Gilbert began to whistle and when he stopped Gilbird sang the exact tune back to him but added some notes to the end. Gilbert whistled the entire tune back and added his own notes.

They played this game until Gilbert messed up on a note; it was no surprise really, as the song had gotten to be a little over 3 minutes long. Gilbird flapped his wings happily at his win.

"Ah shut it you cocky bastard, kesesesese." Gilbert laughed and started a new tune. They played for what seemed like hours when it was really just half of one. Gilbird won every single round after which Gilbert would huff and lick his lips before starting a new round.

But as he moistened his lips he caught the taste of a lonely soul, a soul that was in pain but had a small flare of hope in it as well. Without moving an inch, Gilbert looked out of the corner of his eye and saw a blonde man watching him, he wore a red sweater, jeans and his hair was shoulder length and wavy.

Gilbird chirped to get his master's attention.

Gilbert couldn't understand how this human could see him when he was sure he hadn't dropped the invisibility however after kicking the grass that fact proved to be false as some of the blades caught on the toe of his shoe and moved. He cursed under his breath and stood up, his tail stayed still and lifeless like it was just part of the hoodie.

" Lasst uns nach Hause gehen." (Let's go home) Gilbert said. Gilbird gave a chirp and flew out of his hands to land on his head. Gilbert laughed his odd snake laugh and stuck his hands in his pockets. He licked his lips again but the soul was gone. Shrugging he left the park to go 'home'.

Really it was just a dark corner on one of the churches in the area that he slept on for the pure irony of it. The wind tossed his silver strands of hair as he flew; Gilbird flew beside his head and out of the way of his wings.

Not 5 minutes later Gilbert landed on his cold stone ledge and turned his back on the building to lean on it. Across the street was a high school, another reason why he chose to sleep here. He sighed and crouched down with his bird snuggled in his hair and his hands stuffed in his pockets, it wasn't comfortable but he wasn't looking for comfort he was looking for sleep and after a minute of listening to the city's lullaby he found it.

The weak rays of the sun woke Gilbert, he blinked the sleep out of his eyes and yawned, leaning his head back, arching his stiff back, and his tail finished the arch as the tip of it touched the top of his head and helped his aching muscles loosen up. He rolled his shoulders and slowly stood up so he didn't pass out then shook his legs out and crouched down again.

With red eyes trained on the school; he waited. It took a few hours but if the war taught him one thing it was patients. The sun chased away the few clouds in the sky as the students started to trickle in through the gates of the school.

The demon noticed a trend; people usually came in by themselves or in groups up to five people, so it was odd that a pair of boys walked in together. Both were blonde, both wore glasses but the taller one had shorter hair with a cowlick that could be argued was an ahoge and was louder than the others walking in.

As Gilbert looked at the shorter one, he sucked in a breath, it was the same man from yesterday but today that spark of hope was cut in half and the pain was mixed in with despair.

 _Target acquired._


	4. Chapter 4

Gilbert sat and watched the teen for weeks. He would see him enter the school, by himself after his brother ditched him to go with some friends, and he would only see him again after school when he would walk out by himself and go home. It was rather intriguing to watch the under-dog when he himself had been the center of attention when he was in high school. Gilbert stood from his perch and pounced on the heels of his feet to get the blood flowing again.

The albino waited until the students started arriving to glide down and wait for him to arrive with his brother. Today he decided to stop watching from afar and instead go out into the field, a smirk tugged at his thin lips, he always loved field work. It didn't take long for the pair to come walking down the sidewalk. Gilbert sidestepped out of the way and then fell into step beside his blonde target right as the brother was going off about the game tonight.

"Dude it's going to be epic!" He shouted and flailed his arms around.

"I'm sure it will," Gilbert almost didn't hear him his voice was so quiet. The loud mouth was about to say something else when the boys from his group called him over.

"See ya later, Mattie!" He said and rushed over to them.

"Bye, Alfred." Matthew said. He walked into the building and to his locker. Gilbert grabbed onto a strap from his backpack so that he could gander at the many posters in the hallway and not lose Matthew. Almost all of the posters were about the football game after school today, the demon sighed and watched Matthew open his locker and take out a few books. Gilbert let go of his pack back as Matthew swung it off his back to put the books into it and take out a few more to replace the empty spots in his locker.

It was then that Gilbert noticed the inside of his target's locker; it had the kid's schedule taped to the door and the Canadian flag drawn on it at the corner. He leaned forward to examine the schedule. His jaw dropped after scanning it twice, every class was an AP course! Matthew closed his locker but Gilbert wasn't fast enough, the door hit him in the nose, it went through him but it still made his nose bleed and pain shoot up to his forehead.

His pale hands flew up to his nose and he bit his lip to keep the loud cry of pain from escaping. He may be invisible but people could still hear him. Matthew didn't notice the drop of Gilbert's blood dripping from the edge of his locker as he hoisted his back pack onto his back and went to his first class with a disgruntled Gilbert in tow still holding his face. The blonde sat down at his seat at the back of the class room leaving the demon to lean against the wall with one foot propped against it behind him. He wiped the blood off his face; the bleeding had already stopped from his rapid healing abilities.

A boy with deep brown hair, an odd curl stuck out from the front, and brown eyes sat beside Matthew. Gilbert was going to ignore him but his tongue flicked out and ran across his bottom lip on impulse. The sharp tang of anger hit the back of throat along with the taste of self-loathing mixed with jealousy.

"Good morning, Lovino," Matthew said.

"What the fuck do you want, Canadian?" Lovino growled. Matthew smiled at him leaving Gilbert with the impression that this was normal for the brat.

"How are you doing?" Matthew asked. Lovino huffed and slammed his history book down on the desk. The blonde giggled softly and a ghost of a smile appeared on the brunette's face before he mumbled something. Gilbert didn't catch it but Matthew must have because he smiled wider and nodded happily. Their class started soon after, the teacher started a lesson about World War II while passing out a work sheet.

Everyone moaned and groaned but they started filling it in anyway with the help of their books. Gilbert couldn't help himself as he leaned over Matthew's shoulder to read the questions for himself; he frowned as memories of the war sped past him. Beelzebub loved calling him the Last Prussian because he had been the last person from Prussia to die during the war and then of course it was dissolved. The only noise was of pens scribbling and pages being flipped.

Matthew got stuck on a question. He started flipping back and forth between three pages trying to look for the answer. Gilbert leaned in until his lips ghosted over the boy's ear and told him the answer. Matthew spun around with a small jump but he couldn't see the demon as he covered his mouth to stifle the giggles, his tail wagging back and forth in amusement.

"Something wrong?" Lovino asked. "Bastard," he mumbled as an afterthought. Matthew slowly shook his head turning back around and writing down the answer. That's how it went for the rest of the day when Matthew failed to be able to answer something that Gilbert knew the answer to. By the end of the day Matthew didn't know what to think and all he could do was shrug it off.

Gilbert hooked his thumb into his hood and lifted it enough to let Gilbird out as he followed Matthew out of the school building. The yellow bird flew into a tree and started chirping. Gilbert linked his fingers behind his head and followed the blonde boy home. It was a nice place, Victorian style with oak trees growing on either side of the house and a fence that showed a big back yard. Matthew trudged up the stairs; Gilbert moved to follow but stopped dead as he felt the aura of another demon coming from the house.

"I'm home Papa!" Matthew called out.

"Bienvenue à la maison, Matthieu!" A very familiar French laced accent called back. Gilbert knew this aura and voice but he never thought he'd find the demon they belonged to here. The last time he had seen his old friend was on an assignment together, they had gotten separated and Gilbert never saw him again. He just disappeared and everyone thought he was dead or turned back into an angel by some miracle. Matthew moved to the shut the door when a man with shoulder length, wavy blonde hair and blue eyes came around the corner.

His eyes locked onto Gilbert's red ones.

Francis' eyes widened. Gilbert's brain was trying to work out the fact that Francis didn't have horns anymore as Matthew shut the door.

"Oh Scheiße." Gilbert whispered.


	5. Chapter 5

Gilbert spun on his heel and flew away like a bat out of Hell. He didn't know where he was going but he didn't care, he just needed to get away. The demon found himself nearly crash landing on the support beams of the underside of a bridge, once he regained his footing Gilbert shoved his fingers into his hair and started pacing. It nearly killed him to admit it, even to himself, but he was finding the thought of killing a friend of-no a son- Francis' son disturbing. He wouldn't-couldn't do it.

He started shaking.

Gilbert placed a pale hand on his hip and covered his face with the other hand; Gilbird flew in circles around his head as he paced up and down the large segment of rusty red steel. He was so disgusted with himself that he didn't notice the scent of another demon nor did he notice the sudden thump of feet hitting the same support beam.  
A hand shot out and grabbed him by the collar, roughly slamming him back against the closest vertical beam. His head hit, hard, but all he saw was the glaring blue eyes of the demon Francis Bonnefoy.

"Long time no see. You have 5 seconds to tell me what you were doing following my boy," Francis growled.

"What the Hell happened to your horns?" Gilbert asked.

"I asked first," Gilbert looked down at his shoes.

"If I do it, I'll be able to go where ever I want. It's the closest to freedom I'll have,"  
"What did he ask you to do?"

"I'll be able to look after West,"

"What did he ask you to do?"

"Like the old days,"

"GILBERT!" Francis slammed him against the beam again. "What did he ask of you?" Gilbert slowly looked up and met Francis' eyes.

"Whisper suicide." He said. Francis's eyes widened and then narrowed before he coiled his fist back and slammed it into Gilbert's gut. The albino coughed and fell to his knees, clutching his stomach, his tail curled around him.

"And you picked Matthieu," Francis said and kneeled down to Gilbert's level.

"Ja. He's already miserable," Gilbert raised his head and looked at Francis. "Now what happened to your horns?"

"The day we got separated, I found a wizard and he removed them for me," Francis reached under Gilbert's hood and tapped his horns. "Turns out these are nothing more than tracking devices,"

"What?" Gilbert's red eyes widened.

Francis nodded then hauled Gilbert to his feet.

"Well, as much as I hate you for targeting Matthieu, I can't leave one of mes amis. If its freedom you want I can give it to you." Gilbert didn't know if he believed the thing about the horns but Francis had never lied to him, that he knew of…when they were alive. So he let him drag him back to his house.

```

Gilbert followed Francis up the stairs and to the door. Another car was in the driveway. Francis dug in his pocket for the keys and opened the door. Gilbert raised an eyebrow at the fact that Francis wasn't hiding his wings or tail.

"Well come in," He said over his shoulder. Gilbert followed him to the living room, where three people sat around a coffee table looking over what looked like homework. His tail flicked. The one with bushy eyebrows and green eyes looked up first.

"Bloody Hell, Francis!" he shouted. "Why did you bring another demon home with you?!"  
At that the other boys looked up. Mathew and Alfred. Mathew's eyes widened as he recognized him from the park but where was his bird?

"Arthur, chérie. This is Gilbert Beilschmidt, an old friend," Francis put his arm around Gilbert's shoulder.

"Apparently I need my horns removed." Gilbert said.

"I see," Arthur stood up and walked over. "Let's see them then." Gilbert pushed his hood back, Gilbird nearly fell over, and he pecked Gilbert's head, hard, and flew over to perch on a lamp.

"Tch, töricht Vogel," Gilbert grumbled and rubbed the sore spot on his head. Mathew opened his mouth to say something, looking like he wanted to come out of his stuffy shell, but then must have thought it was too comfy and stayed in it, closing his mouth he leaned against Alfred.

"There defiantly shorter than what Francis' were. Shouldn't be too hard," Arthur said and ran a hand through his messy hair. He turned to his sons. "Boys don't burn down the house."

"What's the fun in that?" Gilbert asked and followed Arthur and Francis down the hall.

Stifled giggles followed them from the living room. Gilbert soon found himself in the  
basement. Arthur got to work drawing magic circles around the room, mostly a giant one on the floor, Francis stepped back behind Gilbert and tied his wings together.

Gilbert flinched as his wings where pulled back.

"Making sure you don't break them when you start thrashing." Francis explained and tied the final knot.

"Done," Arthur said and stood up from his spot on the ground. "Okay if you could sit here," he pointed to the center of the circle.

Gilbert sat and curled his tail around his feet. The circle glowed purple; Gilbert was suddenly pulled down to the floor by some unseen force so that he lay on his side. The purple color changed to red.

Gilbert's horns started glowing the same color as the magic took hold of them then started to unravel the bone coating, pain exploded in Gilbert's head as his horns where slowly turned back into his hair. He closed his eyes and bit his lip to stop the screams from coming, his lip started bleeding.

Blood squirted from the place where horn meet skull, the pain intensified until Gilbert thought he would pass out from it.

He screamed.


	6. Chapter 6

Beelzebub sat on his throne with his head resting in his hand. He was following Gilbert to see how much progress he had made thus far and was wondering why it was taking him so long to kill someone. Really what was so hard about it? Usually the Prussian would be done with whatever he had asked him to do within a number of days but this was taking months. Suddenly his link to Gilbert was overflown with pain so intense that Beelzebub had to grab his head with both hands. Just as suddenly as the pain had come it was gone, taking Gilbert with it.

"Well, that's too bad," Beelzebub hissed, irritated that someone had the balls to take his favorite toy away from him. Him! The mother fucking Devil! Well, he was going to have to punish them then and he knew just the person to send. Antonio Fernandez Carriedo.

```

Gilbert groaned and tried to sit up but someone gently pushed him back down. He slowly opened his crimson eyes to be met with concerned blue eyes that had a swirl of purple to them. Unknown to Gilbert, when he passed out after the pain became too much his tail developed a mind of its own and had kept everyone that tried to get close to him away. Everyone except Mathew.

"Hey, how are you feeling eh?" Mathew asked in a whisper. Gilbert groaned again as he rolled over onto his back, he winced as he put all of his weight on his wings and he pulled them into his back.

"Feels like I've been ran over by a platoon of tanks…times 3," Gilbert mumbled.

Had he been alive he was sure that the pain in his head would have killed him already. That combined with the guilt he was feeling for planning to kill Mathew was making him feel like he should just let Francis entomb him for eternity, without letting him say goodbye to Ludwig. Gilbert brought a hand up to his head, his pale fingers brushed something soft yet at the same time a little rough.

"We thought you weren't gonna make it," Mathew said when he saw the confusion on the demon's face. "The bleeding wouldn't stop." Gilbert dropped his hand back to his side and smirked at Mathew.

"I'm too awesome to die," Gilbert laughed his weird snake laugh but then his face fell into a more serious expression. "I can't die…Not yet anyway," he trailed off.  
"w-whys that eh?" Gilbert opened his mouth to say that he needed to make amends but then remembered that Mathew didn't know he had tried to kill him.

"I'm to fucking awesome that's why!" Gilbert said loudly, trying to cover up the fact that he hesitated.

Mathew smiled, from the stories Francis had told, he knew that Gilbert's ego often didn't allow him to say what he really wanted to.

"Y-you should probably take a s-shower," Mathew said and looked down to hide his blush. "I uh couldn't g-get the blood out of your hair." Gilbert chuckled at him, damn the kid was cute and he had no problem with admitting that, but only to himself.

They fell into silence.

"Gilbert?"

"Hmm?"

"How did you…"

"Become a demon?"

"..Y-yeah." Gilbert looked at Mathew out of the corner of his eye; he was biting his lip and avoiding eye contact with the demon.

"It's my punishment for projecting Ludwig, my little bruder, we were drafted together. One night, during a surprise attack, I got shot, right here," Gilbert lifted his pointer finger and touched Mathew's forehead then let it drop again. "The angel that came to get me was my godfather, Frederick but I always called him Old Man Fritz. I was planning on going with him but the bastard that shot me took one at Ludwig too, well what kind of bruder would I be if I let him die?"

"What'd you do?" Mathew whispered.

"Grabbed Ludwig's hand and aimed his gun at him and pulled the trigger for him," Gilbert laughed humorlessly. "Never even saw Heaven but it was more than worth it." He watched Mathew chew on his lip while he processed it all but then his eyes lit up and he looked at Gilbert again.

"Lovino's little brothers dating someone named Ludwig, is that him?"

"Ja." Gilbert slowly sat up with a groan. His head was pounding in time with his heart. "Mathew, can I call you 'Mattie'?"

"What for eh?" Mathew asked.

"I wanna be your friend, that's why. As long as you don't mind hanging out with a dead guy," Gilbert licked his lip out of habit, he couldn't taste Mathew's soul anymore.

He could almost see the wheels in the Canadian's head turning, wondering why he wanted to be his friend and if he should accept it or not.

Finally Mathew nodded with a small smile.

"Awesome." Gilbert smirked.


	7. Chapter 7

Without his horns, Gilbert found that his balance was impaired, stumbling when he tried to stand and rechecking his balance when he sat back down. His tail over corrected and made him fall on his ass more than once and, to his denied embarrassment, Mathew saw it happen nearly every time and had to help him around.

Francis said it would pass and Gilbert hoped it would be soon, he kept his wings in his back in case he fell on them.

Matthew was in the basement, with Gilbert, finishing his homework while the demon leaned against the wall, trying to figure out why he couldn't taste the blonde's soul anymore. He had been staring at him ever since he had come down the stair case, not like he had noticed that, though what he had noticed was that Matthew spends most of his time around him. Gilbert couldn't help but wonder what Francis had told Matthew about him that would make him do such a thing, well one way to find out, assuming it would work.

"Oi Mattie," Matthew jumped as the albino's loud voice suddenly filled the silent room. He looked up from his homework.

"Eh?"

"Come here a sec," Gilbert curled his finger in a 'come hither' motion. Matthew hesitated but then put his pen down and crawled over to where Gilbert sat against the wall, when he was in reach, Gilbert grabbed his upper arm and pulled him into his lap, Matthew was so surprised he squeaked and Gilbert quickly captured his lips with his own. He grabbed the back of Matthew's head so he couldn't pull away and his tail wrapped around his waist. He couldn't taste anything so he pushed his tongue into the Canadian's mouth without his permission.

The sharp tang of surprise hit him but he had been expecting it, as he explored the wet cavern he found that he could taste more if his tongue moved. Gilbert closed his eyes to help him concentrate. The pain and despair was completely gone and in their place was hope and happiness, the likes of which Gilbert had never come across and it tasted so good. To the point that Gilbert didn't want to let Matthew up for air but he knew he had to at some point.

Gilbert ran his tongue along Matthew's before pulling back, as soon as they touched a warm and fuzzy feeling filled Gilbert's chest as a sweet and smooth taste hit him in the face. His red eyes snapped open wide in surprise, he slowly pulled back to look into Matthew's violet orbs. The feeling was there too.

"What was that for, eh?" Matthew asked in a whisper. Gilbert couldn't help but smile as he buried his face in Matthew's shoulder.

"I wanted to know what your soul tasted like,"

"What?" Matthew squeaked. Gilbert chuckled and hugged the boy to his chest.

"That last one was really good," Gilbert smirked, unable to pass up the chance to tease him. "It was warm and sweet. Do you know what it was?" Gilbert asked playfully. He felt Matthew shake his head.

Gilbert pulled away from his shoulder to rest his forehead against Matthew's.

"It was love." He purred.

Matthew's face turned tomato red.

He couldn't help but chuckle at him.

"Mein Gott, Mattie that is the cutest face I've ever seen!"

"Take off eh!" Matthew shouted, as much as he could with his whisper voice, stood up and left in a huff. Gilbert cackled the entire time.

```

Three days later Gilbert was finally able to get up on his own, he was so sick of being helpless that he had started walking around when no one was home, the boys were at school and Francis and Arthur were at work. The first thing he did was took a shower and made sure all the blood in his hair was gone. After that Gilbert sat down on the couch and attempted to watch T.V but it got boring after a while, sighing, he stood up and went to the door. He got it open before he realized that if he left he wouldn't be able to get back in without an invite.

Cursing, he shut the door and went back to the couch.

Gilbert's view on the house was now that of a prison.


	8. Chapter 8

Gilbert hadn't known he had fallen asleep until he was woken up by the door slamming shut and a reprimand being shouted in a British accent. Gilbert was stretched out on the couch; one leg had fallen off and dangled uselessly while the other was propped up on the arm of the couch and both hands where hanging off of the other arm that he was using as a pillow. Gilbird was on his chest.

"Whatever old man, it's just a door." Alfred said. "Oh, hey Gilbert."

"We don't slam doors in this house." Arthur scolded. Gilbert cracked open one eye and watched the British man follow after his son through the living room. The door opened again and in walked Mathew, Gilbert was a little shocked to not see Francis with him but he shrugged it off.

"Welcome home, Mattie," Gilbert yawned and stretched his arms out then let them fall back again.

"Um…Thanks," The blonde boy was clearly shocked at being noticed. "Wait how did you get up here by yourself?" Mathew asked, letting his backpack drop off his shoulder to land by the coffee table.

"Generally people walk," Gilbird chirped in agreement.

Mathew's eyes widened.

"So you're well enough to walk now!?" He asked.

"Kesesese ja." Gilbert watched Mathew nearly shine with happiness as he stood there.

"That's great but how come you didn't go outside then?" Mathew asked and finally sat down at the coffee table and took his homework out. Alfred and Arthur waltzed back in, they were both ignored as Arthur dragged Alfred to the front door and forced him to open and close it 10 times gently.

"I can't," Gilbert closed his eye again. "Can't get back in without an invite to this little party that's going on." Gilbert pointed with his tail at Arthur and Alfred.  
"But papa can-"

"He lives here but I can't come and go freely because I don't."

"Oh." Mathew mumbled the sound of his pencil on paper filled the silence with the door opening and closing in the background. Finally it stopped and Gilbert heard Alfred's angry footsteps stomp into the room then the sound of a body hitting the floor as he sat down heavily. Gilbert cupped his hands around Gilbird so he wouldn't fall and rolled over so that his back was to the twins, he brought his legs up and curled his tail around himself as he tried to go back to sleep.

Gilbird jumped out of his hands and flew up to sit in his hair then started chirping a happy tune when he stopped and Gilbert didn't sing it back in their little game he pecked his head and sang it again.

"Nein." Gilbert groaned but when Gilbird pecked his head again the demon gave up with a loud sigh and whistled the tune back, adding his own notes at the end. The bird flapped his little wings excitedly, happy that he's finally getting to spend some time with his owner and sang it back. After a few rounds Gilbert messed up making Gilbird flap his wings and start a new tune, of which Gilbert was reluctant to continue.

He lost that round too. The small bird tried to sing again but Gilbert poked him in the belly, shutting him up enough for him to resume the losing battle of conquering sleep.

"Dude that was so cool." Alfred said in awe. Gilbert flicked his tail to show that he heard him. The kid laughed. "Man you remind me of a cat!" Gilbert had to chuckle at that, it was the same thing Ludwig had told him when he had shown up on his door step.

At the thought of him Gilbert's heart squeezed almost painfully. God how he wanted to see him, even though it wasn't all that long ago that he snuck into his bedroom but that wasn't enough, Gilbert wanted to actually talk to him, hear how he'd been, tease him like he used to and maybe, if he was lucky, get drunk with his little brother and pass out on the couch. Get up early and bang pots and pans together just to piss him off, yeah that's the life.

Gilbert rolled over on to his back; Gilbird was kind of like rat in that he would move as Gilbert moved so that he never fell off his head. Now the little yellow bird was sitting on his forehead. His red eyes glazed over as he thought back to a time when Ludwig was still a little kid, back when the military hadn't crowned him king of the 'stick-up-the-ass' tribe and he smiled freely and laughed openly.

Now that his horns where gone and he could walk again what was keeping him here?

"Al I don't get this." Matthew whined to his twin.

Oh…right.

 **~~I am but a poor time skip named Larry~~**

Gilbert and Matthew where at the mall, giving Gilbert some room to breathe instead of being locked up in the house, Francis had given him permission to come back in but it was a onetime thing. It was obvious that he wasn't going to make the same mistake Ludwig had, not that Gilbert saw it as a mistake. The demon had his wings tucked away inside his back but his tail was only wrapped around his torso. He wore one of Matthew's red sweaters with a white maple leave on the chest and back.

His hands stuck deep inside his pockets as he glanced around half heartily. Nothing interested him here but as they walked past a toy store, with a polar plushie in the window, Matthew's violet eyes lit up but he didn't say anything. Smirking, Gilbert made a mental note to come back for it later.

"So, Mattie, what do you do in your free time? I already know what Alfred dose but truth be told I'm more interested in getting to know you," Gilbert said giving him a toothy grin. Matthew blushed and looked at his feet.

"H-hockey, mostly, I-I mean I don't play it but I watch it," he said.

Gilbert hmm'ed.

"What about you?" Matthew finally looked up at him.

"I use to play the piano and violin but most days I would just hang out with Franny and the tomato lover," Gilbert glanced over at Matthew, confusion written all over his face. "An-" Suddenly the presents of another demon, not Francis, pounded away at Gilbert's forehead. It caused the two spots where his horns used to be pulse, Gilbert stopped walking and did a three sixty sweep.

Not far away a familiar mop of messy brown hair, equally brown horns could be seen poking out if you looked closely, caught it eye and, fortunately, the demon had not noticed him. "-tonio." The albino finished rather awkwardly.

He could feel Mathew's eyes on him; Gilbert turned back to him and grinned before grabbing his hand and pulling him along, ignoring his surprised gasp. Even though Gilbert wanted to go over there and swing an arm around his shoulders, he doubted Francis wanted Matthew to be near him.  
If the frog hadn't told his sons about Antonio or himself then it was painfully clear that he was trying to live a normal life without demons in it, be it in stories or reality.

The least Gilbert could do was help him continue living 'normally' for as long as possible as pay back for all that he had done for him so far.


	9. Chapter 9

The albino demon was somewhat edgy and thankfully Matthew picked up on it and kept up with him without complaint. Gilbert dragged Mathew through the mall and out the automatic doors, down the street and turned into an alley that Alfred had said was a good shortcut that they had used on the way to the mall. Gilbert didn't like being in the closed space of the alley but he needed to get Mathew away as fast as he could.

They were about half way down the alley when a whizzing sound caught Gilbert's attention. He dug his heels into the ground and suddenly stopped, Matthew bumped into his back, as a battle axe crashed into the wall where Gilbert's head would have been if he had kept walking. Ignoring Matthew's gasp, Gilbert gently but firmly pushed him back and up against the wall.

A cruel laugh rang out then Antonio landed gracefully in front of them. He pulled his axe out of the wall and pointed it at Gilbert.

"Not bad. If my friend you're impersonating hadn't died I would have thought you were him," Antonio snarled. Gilbert knew without looking that Matthew was going to say something in his defense so he turned his head slightly toward him and said. "Don't bother." He turned back to face Antonio and reached to his side as if he was reaching for a sword. His pale fingers curled into a fist and when he pulled his arm back a sword materialized out of nowhere.

A feral grin appeared on Gilbert's face as he leveled his sword at Antonio and took a ready stance.

"I'll have to remind you that I'm too awesome to die." He declared making Antonio's narrowed green eyes blaze.

"How dare you use his catchphrase!" Antonio shouted and charged.

Gilbert rushed him, ducking with a side step under a swing aimed at his neck then took a swing of his own. Antonio easily parried it, his tail lashed out to trip Gilbert but it was met with the albino's own. Gilbert fell backward and onto his back, flinging Antonio over him and into the wall.

Gilbert jumped back to his feet and waited for his friend to recover, sidestepping again to make sure he was between Antonio and Matthew. A strange feeling of wanting to protect him at all costs flooded him and his heart beat frantically at just the mere thought of Matthew getting hurt.

"Go home Mattie," Gilbert said in a calm voice and chanced a look over at the trembling blonde. "I got this." He turned back to Antonio. The brown haired demon was up, axe in hand and, mercifully, he waited until Matthew was gone to attack again. This time, free of human eyes, they didn't hold back and lashed out with tail, wings, horns and cheap shots, though Gilbert couldn't go all out for fear of accidentally killing his friend.  
Anything to win.

The alley walls soon had huge indents where they were hurled into it and blood splattered the ground as the fight dragged on. Gilbert jumped over a swing of Antonio's axe, grabbed the front of his shirt with one hand, unfurled his great bat wings and lifted them into the sky. Antonio thrashed around and tried to unfurl his own wings but Gilbert wrapped his tail around him firmly and kicked his axe out of his hands. It sparkled as it fell to land somewhere below.

Gilbert didn't let go until he had flown well above the city, so high no one would see them if they happened to look up. Antonio dropped several feet before he was able to snapped open his wings and rocket back up and into Gilbert's gut. The air whooshed out of his lungs and threw him into a coughing fit as the momentum carried them even higher.

Before he could recover Antonio's leathery tail wrapped tightly around his throat. A tan hand grabbed his pale wrist, the one holding the sword, while the other clamped down on his tail. Green eyes meet crimson as they glared at each other; Gilbert reached up and grabbed Antonio's tail for support as he readied himself for his last resort.

"Just die already and let my friend rest in peace!" Antonio shouted. One red eye slid shut; snow white eyebrows drew together in a concentrated frown.

"Ich wollte nicht sterben." Gilbert wheezed and then drew his wings into his back and let himself become dead weight.

Antonio wasn't strong enough to hold him with how much blood he had lost, Gilbert knew, and they began to plummet. His wings beat frantically trying to keep himself aloft but Gilbert pulled on his tail, bringing them closer and flung his arm around him, trapping him in a hug that clamped his wings to his back. The fall wouldn't kill them but it would knock them both out and then it would be a race to see who could wake up first. If it was Antonio, Gilbert had no doubt that he wouldn't wait for him to wake up before he killed him. If it was Gilbert he fully indented to get up and walk away.

It was a huge gamble but one Gilbert felt he had to take.

The tail around his neck tightened as Antonio tried to force him to let go by making him black out first but it only made him hug him tighter. Black dots swam at the edges of Gilbert's vision but he held on. Suddenly there was an ear piercing screech of a large bird, soon after, an enormous black bird crashed into Antonio.

Air rushed back into Gilbert's lungs as his tail was yanked off his neck, he tried to unfurl his wings but he couldn't find the strength to do it. His back collided with something hard and he was suddenly being carried up again and then he was hovering. Gilbert looked back and red eyes met blue framed with fine blonde hair.

Francis' wings beat strong and steady, easily keeping them both up, he looked over the albino's wounds then back to his pale face. Gilbert looked back at Antonio; black feathers flew everywhere as Gilbird smacked him in the face with his wings and clawed at his shoulders, screeching loudly. It took his mind a second to piece together that Gilbird had taken some of his demonic powers and used it to change into a giant eagle.  
"We should go, non?" Francis asked and dove. When they were a safe distance away Gilbird left Antonio alone and flew off in a different direction, in case he followed him, and circled back to Gilbert.

```  
By the time they got back most of Gilbert's wounds had healed, leaving dried and crusting blood on his barrowed clothes. Some of the lesser wounds hadn't healed at all, letting a trickle of blood run down his forehead, into his eye and down to drip off his chin. His nose was still bleeding and so was the back of his head from being thrown into a wall.  
Unfortunately the red of Matthew's sweater couldn't hide how much blood he was really soaked in, be it his or Antonio's, the sweater was ruined. Gilbert's arm was slung over Francis' shoulder, forcefully being held in place by one of the Frenchmen's hands wrapped around his wrist while the other arm was wrapped around the albino's waist with a handful of Gilbert's belt in his hand to help keep him up.

They stumbled along as they made their way down the sidewalk, making their way back to the house. An eagle called and then Gilbird came swooping down, he exploded into a ball of smoke and when it cleared he was a fluffy yellow chick again.

With a happy peep he settled himself in Gilbert's hair.

The familiar weight on his head was an odd comfort to Gilbert.

"You doin' ok?" Francis asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Ja, this is nothing." Gilbert grunted.

"Good because I have a feeling Matthieu is going to scream your ear off," Francis trailed off and looked at Gilbert. "You scared him pretty badly. My poor boy came running through the door almost in tears!"

Gilbert winced at the thought but then he smirked as he thought back to the polar bear Matthew had been eyeing. This was a perfect chance to get it for him as an 'apology' instead of the embarrassing actual reason.

He really couldn't help himself anymore; he was crushing on the kid that badly.

His smirk turned into a grin but then it quickly turned into a frown. Matthew probably didn't like him like that. That sweet taste on Matthew's soul was probably just love for his family, everyone had it, there was no way it included the demon himself. The smirk came back with a hint of sharp canines; the Prussian had some seducing to do.

Challenge accepted.


	10. Chapter 10

Gilbert was a fast healer so it was no surprise to Francis that he stopped limping and tugged his arm off of his shoulders to walk on his own. They walked in grim silence, both knew what Antonio's appearance meant but neither one was willing to actually say it, Francis took out his keys and unlocked the door. The Frenchmen didn't have time to take his keys out of the key hole before it was yanked open and they were met with the blazing green eyes of Arthur.

His narrowed eyes widened as he took in Gilbert's appearance and the smeared blood on Francis' chest, down the length of his side and across his shoulders from where Gilbert had leaned on him.

"My God, what happened?" He asked while ushering them in. Francis nudged Gilbert to continue to the living room while he talked to Arthur by the door. The albino sighed and entered the living room, the sight before him made him freeze.

Alfred and Matthew where on the couch, Alfred had his arms wrapped around Matthew as he cried into his shoulder and clung to him. He hiccupped and mumbled something that Gilbert couldn't hear. He ran a pale hand through his hair, trying to understand why he was crying; when Alfred's loud voice interrupted his mussing.

"Gilbert!" the boy nearly shouted. Matthew slowly raised his head to look at the demon, his violet eyes widened when he saw all the blood on his face, in his hair and on his legs, the red hoodie hiding the blood on his torso for the moment. Neither boy moved, whether still trying to believe that he was standing there or trying to think of something to say, Gilbert didn't know so he stuffed his hands in his pockets and waited for them to figure it out.

Matthew snapped out of it first.

"Gil!" he shouted and ran to him, flinging his arms around his torso and nuzzling his cheek into his shoulder. Gilbert stumbled back a step and instinctively wrapped his arms around Matthew but immediately let go and pushed the blonde back.

Matthew's face and chest where speared with blood and the back of his shirt had two large red stripes where Gilbert's arms had wrapped around him. Gilbert held his hands up in front of him as if in a sign of surrender.

"Holy shit, dude!" Alfred shouted and ran over to them. Matthew raised a hand to his face but stopped mid-way as he saw blood on his hands from grabbing the red sweater he had lent to Gilbert.

"Gilbert?" Matthew's whispery voice cracked a little as he looked back at the demon.

"Okay, in my defense, only half of that is mine," Gilbert said trying to keep them relatively calm.

 **~~Hello, it's me, Larry The Time Skip~~**

It hadn't worked. Alfred and Matthew had nearly had heart attacks until Francis and Arthur came into the room and calmed them down. Francis had suggested that they let Gilbert take a shower to clean off while he tried to work some of the blood out of Matthew and his own clothes.

Now Gilbert was back in his usual outfit with Gilbird on his head and his hands in his pockets because he didn't know what else to do with them. A problem he hadn't had while alive since he was usually found with a cigarette in his mouth. Francis had insisted that what everyone needed was a good night's rest after all the stressful events.

However a certain albino demon couldn't sleep. He was outside leaning against Arthur's green house as he looked out into space with his great wings draped over his shoulders to help keep him warm. Gilbird had snuggled deeply into his hair and fell asleep a while ago. He didn't know how long he stood there for but he did notice that the temperature dropped because his bare feet started to freeze. Gilbert sighed heavily, his mind wondering across the ocean and to his baby brother.

Ludwig was probably awake by now. Maybe he could call him; he had all of the blonde's contact numbers memorized. He was bound to reach him through either the land line or his personal cell phone and if push came to shove Gilbert could call his work cell. Spamming the hell out of all three phones would be so awesome. Gilbert chuckled softly just thinking about how Ludwig's voice would be strained as he fought to keep control of his anger but ultimately fail.

The demon sighed heavily. No, he couldn't do that to Ludwig, at least not until this whole thing blew over. It wasn't hard to figure out that Beelzebub sent Antonio to kill the person responsible for 'killing' two powerful demons; Gilbert had decided to stay and help Francis. It was one of his unwritten rules to help a friend in need and he was going to stick by it damn it! Having that many more chances to seduce that sweet ass Canadian was just an added bonus.

"G-Gilbert?" someone whispered. Gilbert turned his head enough to see the person out of the corner of his eye. It was like his thoughts alone had conjured up the very creature of his fantasies. He smirked.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," he mumbled to himself and turned his head to fully look at Matthew. The shy blonde was in PJ pants that had a purple plaid pattern on them and a plain white t-shirt, his wavy hair was a slight mess as if he had tossed and turned a lot before coming outside.

"Was just thinking about you, Mattie. What's up can't sleep?" Gilbert asked not caring that he had just confessed that the boy had been on his mind. Seeing that massive blush was worth it.

"Yeah," Matthew said and stood beside Gilbert. "What are you doing out here?"

"Just thinking about West is all,"

"What?"

"It's my nickname for Ludwig,"

"Oh,"

The demon's crimson eyes traveled the boy's body, noting that it was ridged and tense, his violet eyes where sore looking as if he rubbed them a lot to try and ease the pain of a headache.

"…Es tut mir leid," Gilbert muttered with a light blush as he stared dead ahead at the porch light that hung above the back door.

"Eh?"

"It means 'I'm sorry'," Gilbert looked down at his feet, shoving his ego and pride aside long enough to actually get the words out of his mouth was proving to be rather difficult.

"Huh?" Matthew tilted his head to the side. "…OH! You mean-No it was just a hoodie! I-it's fine really d-don't worry about it! What matters it that y-you're ok!" Matthew tripped over himself trying to rush the words out of his mouth as he unconsciously waved his arms in front of him in a window wiper motion.

"I wasn't talking about the hoodie. I'm sorry that I scared you like that and that we had to leave the mall so soon, you looked like you were having fun," The Prussian mumbled the last part under his breath. Even so Matthew still heard it.

"It's fine, really." Matthew said putting his arms down by his sides. Gilbert leaned his head back against the green house and closed his eyes, sighing heavily, the movement woke up Gilbird. The small chick chirped in annoyance and fluttered over to one of the small lilac bushes in the corner of the yard.

After the small rustling stopped the only sound was the crickets. Gilbert's shoulders slumped as the tension slowly eased out of his body, the crickets, soft wind and the warmth from his wings was lulling him into a peaceful state that he hadn't been in in a long time. A cute girlish sneeze came from his right, Gilbert cracked open a crimson eye to see Matthew rubbing at his nose with the back of his hand and he was shivering slightly.

He smiled softly at him. Gilbert lifted his wing off his shoulder then wrapped it around Matthew and used it to pull him to his side. Matthew gasped at the foreign feeling of having something boney and webbed wrap around his shoulder, where it stayed, as Gilbert snaked his arm around his small frame and pull him even closer into his body. The leathery wing was so warm it was like being wrapped in a blanket that just came out of the dryer.

Matthew couldn't help himself as he rested his hand on top of the elbow joint and stroked it with his thumb. The demon made a strangled sound like he had just choked on his own spit.

"Are you ok?" Matthew asked.

"Ja, it's just that no one's ever touched them…like that," Gilbert said as a slight blush overtook his face.

"Like what?" Matthew's voice came out a little softer than usual, his thumb still stroking the joint. Once Gilbert felt the blush leave he turned his head to look down at Matthew.

"Gently," Gilbert whispered. He then pointed to a spot close to where Matthew's thumb was; a scar about an inch long ran along the bone where the skin had been ripped open. "I get a new one every time someone touched them…at least that's what it seems like. Kesese, even West gave me two!" Gilbert chuckled at the memory.

It was when his wings had started to come in and Ludwig gave him a side hug that the Prussian himself had started but that light pressure on the brittle bones snapped both wings. The pain was almost like getting shot in the small of the back with a paintball gun at point blank.

"That's terrible," Matthew whispered. Gilbert raised a silver eyebrow at him.

"Was?" Instead of answering him, Matthew turned his face into Gilbert's wing and kissed the scar.

That small kiss sent an electric shock through Gilbert and the next thing he knew, he had Matthew pinned against the green house and their faces where only inches apart. The small Canadian opened his mouth in a small gasp. Gilbert dove in and captured his lips with his own, pushing his tongue past his soft lips and into his hot mouth.

The taste of his soul exploded in Gilbert's face but he didn't want to taste his soul, he just wanted to taste him, so he pushed it all to the side as he explored the invaded territory. Matthew's wide violet eyes slowly slid shut and Gilbert swallowed the soft moan that escaped him. The Prussian wrapped an arm around the small body in front of him and tangled his pale hand into Matthew's hair. The Canadian's arms wrapped themselves around Gilbert's neck and pulled him closer as he kissed back.

Matthew pulled away gasping for air, a line of saliva still connected them. Gilbert trailed kissed along Matthew's jaw and nipped his earlobe, causing him to gasp and arch his back slightly. The demon stuck his tongue out and licked down his neck before kissing and sucking on the soft flesh as he worked his way back up. Matthew groaned when Gilbert found a sensitive spot and gave it a harsh suck, leaving a hickey.

Gilbert slid his hand from Matthew's waist down to his ass and gave it a squeeze. The motion surprised the gorgeous boy in his arms, making him jump forward to get away from the touch but he only succeeded in grinded their hips together. Both men groaned at the sudden attention down below.

"G-Gil," Matthew groaned into the demon's slightly pointed ear, his hot breath tickling down the back of his neck, making him shiver. The demon kissed Matthew's neck once more before pulling away to look into his violet eyes.

"Ja?"

"I…Thought you were straight,"

"…" Gilbert didn't know if he should laugh at how naïve Matthew was for thinking that, he had been part of the Bad Touch Trio after all surly Francis told him stories about that, or if he should punish him for questioning his awesome choice in partners. He chose the latter.

Gilbert spun Matthew around and pushed him into the wall then stepped up behind him so that his back was pressed against his chest. He brought his head down to Matthew's ear and whispered seductively. "Did you know that a man can orgasm from stimulation to the ear alone?" Gilbert felt the blonde's breath hitch.

"Let's put that to the test, shall we?" with that Gilbert slowly licked the shell of Matthew's ear it was then that he realized how sensitive he really was as a hard groan was torn from his throat. A nibble to the earlobe had him arching his back sharply with a pleasured hiss. A kiss to the junction where ear met neck.

"Nngh!" A bite to the soft skin of his neck just behind the ear made him moan the loudest he had all night and his lower body shook. Gilbert chuckled darkly behind him and said something in German that Matthew thought meant 'one' but he's not sure.

Suddenly he's being turned around again and all he can focus on is the demonic red of Gilbert's eyes as he leaned forward and kissed the breath out of him, the kiss was all tongue and teeth before Matthew was allowed to breathe again.

Cold air hit his hot member as Gilbert suddenly yanked his pants and boxers down as he dropped to his knees, Matthew's mind turned into goo as Gilbert took him into his mouth and started his personal mission of sucking him dry. His skillful tongue quickly reawaked Matthew's arousal and it's not long after that that he feels fingers entangle themselves into his hair. Harsh pants and loud groans and moans fill the air as Matthew tosses his head back, screaming his pleasure to the stars.

The demon sucks harder, licks rougher and lets his teeth scrape just a little as Matthew bucked into the touch. His pale hands place themselves on Matthew's hips and his thumbs rub lazy circles into his skin. When he tastes pre-cum he knows he's close and Gilbert starts to hum. The fingers in his hair pull him closer almost desperately.

"Gill!" The Canadian above him shouted as he came a second time. Gilbert swallowed everything Matthew gave him. He stood and licked his lips.

"Zwei," Gilbert chuckled as he caught the spent teen in front of him as Matthew's legs gave out. The blonde gripped onto the back of Gilbert's hoodie and hauled himself up until he could reach his ear.

"More, I need more, Gilbert," He panted. The demon picked him up bridle style and quickly made his way around to the door of the green house; his tail slipped into the small crack between the door and the frame and unlocked it from the inside. Gilbert shouldered the door open then kicked it closed behind them.

He set Matthew down, his tail locked the door with a soft 'click', the blonde kicked off his pants and boxers then grabbed Gilbert's face and pulled him down for another heated kiss. Gilbert trailed his hands down Matthew's back then back up under his shirt. A small impatient whine made Gilbert smirk but his smirk turned into a throaty groan of his own as Matthew ground down on his neglected erection. Gilbert pulled away and took off his hoodie, tossing it to the floor, followed by his shirt.

Matthew gasped at the sight before him, Gilbert's baggy clothes had led him to believe that he was built like himself, lithe with just enough muscle definition to notice it but he wasn't. Gilbert's chest, abs and arms where well defined like that of a soldier's. Matthew leaned in and started kissing at his collarbone; he reached up and trailed his hand down Gilbert's chest until he reached his belt buckle. The demon was noticeable panting now and his tail was swishing back and forth like he didn't know what to do with it.

Matthew grabbed onto his belt and started to walk backwards, dragging Gilbert to the back of the green house, until his foot made contact with the blanket he uses when he reads in here. Making sure to keep eye contact, Matthew sat down, pulling an all too willing Gilbert down with him. The demon grabbed the back of his head and slowly kissed him as he leaned forward until Matthew's back hit the floor. The Canadian fumbled with the Prussian's belt until his hands where gently swatted away, he pulled away from the kiss and pouted, Gilbert chuckled at him then kissed the hickey he had left earlier as he worked his belt off.

He pulled it through the belt loops and tossed it somewhere behind him then sat back on his haunches and yanked his pants and boxers off, they followed the belt on their journey to 'Who-the-Hell-Cares'. Matthew licked his lips then grabbed Gilbert's hand and started sucking on three of his fingers, lightly nipping on them every now and then. Red eyes darkened as his need for the sweet ass Canadian grew and his breath became more ragged as that slick tongue swirled around his fingers.

Gilbert couldn't take it anymore; he pulled his hand away and down to Matthew's entrance, rubbing a slicked finger around it teasingly before pushing in. Matthew gasped and closed his eyes tightly as he tried to relax. A second finger was added and they were moved in a scissoring motion but then they suddenly curled and Matthew's back arched sharply.  
"GILL! Mon dieu…" He gasped out.

Gilbert smirked as he hit Matthew's sensitive bundle of nerves again and again, enjoying the sounds he made more then he probably should be. Gilbert removed his fingers, earning a disappointed groan from the boy beneath him; he grabbed Matthew's leg and placed it over his shoulder then positioned himself. When nothing happened Matthew opened his eyes then gave a small nod.

Gilbert leaned down and kissed him, hard, as he slowly entered him. Matthew whimpered into his mouth and grabbed Gilbert's back, digging his nails into his skin as the burning pain intensified. Gilbert was about to bite his lip in retaliation for the nails but then figured it was only fair so instead he snaked his tongue into Matthew's mouth and tried to distract him.

When he was fully sheathed inside Matthew he pulled back and buried his face into his neck as he concentrated on controlling himself long enough to allow Matthew to adjust. Slowly Matthew's pained gasps quieted so Gilbert gave a slow experimental thrust, earning a quite pleasured moan from Matthew.

The demon leaned back from Matthew's neck and took his leg off of his shoulder to wrap it around his waist; he then started a steady yet forceful pace. The heavy, pleasing rhythm continued, slowly picking up. Matthew's moans grew in volume and at one particular thrust he arched upwards, his chest touching Gilbert's.

"There, oh God, right there!" Matthew yelled. Gilbert obeyed and pounded into that spot as hard as he could. Soon his thrusts lost almost all rhythm as his peek neared, he reached up and yanked on Matthew's curl, he screamed Gilbert's name as he violently came. His walls clamped down around Gilbert and he came with a shout of Matthew's name.

Gilbert almost collapsed on top of him but caught himself with his forearms.

"Drei," He pulled out and fell to Matthew's side.

The blonde rolled over and snuggled into Gilbert's chest, the albino reached over his back until he reached his abused entrance and inserted two fingers again.

"…What are you doing?" Matthew asked.

"Hold on," Gilbert spread his fingers, allowing his seed to drip out of Matthew and then removed them when he was sure it was all out. "There, all clean." He mumbled as he wrapped his arms around Matthew, his wing unfurled to create a makeshift blanket.

"…Gilbert?"

"Ja?"

"I…I love you." Matthew buried his face in Gilbert's chest harder as if he was afraid and he was trying to hide. Gilbert's heart skipped a beat.

He loved him!?

He loved him!

This was the happiest he'd felt in a while. A stupid grin plastered itself on Gilbert's face and it wouldn't go away. He squeezed Matthew and nuzzled into his hair.

"Ich liebe dich auch."


	11. Chapter 11

Something warm and soft running across his chest awoke Gilbert. Cracking open one crimson eye he came face to face with a pair of bright violet eyes. Matthew's fingers brushed Gilbert's bare chest as he toyed with his iron cross medal that he had put on a low hanging necklace. When Matthew noticed Gilbert was awake he couldn't help but smile.

The demon's eyes didn't look like blood and death like they usually did instead they looked like a warm fire on a cold night. The change was both amazing and terrifying.

"You should do that more often," Gilbert mumbled with a soft smile, for once he was being quite as if he didn't want the fragile atmosphere to break. "Smile, I mean,"

"You should too," Matthew blushed lightly and continued to toy with Gilbert's necklace. Gilbert leaned in and kissed Matthew's forehead and then his lips before getting up and taking a small tour of the greenhouse in search for Matthew's pants and boxers. He still had his top on which Gilbert was mentally kicking himself for now.

"W-what are you doing?" Matthew's small voice shook a little bit. Gilbert found his own clothes and quickly dressed then went back to Matthew and handed him his clothes.  
"Wishing you didn't have school today," He said. Matthew's eyes widened then he jumped to his feet and yanked on his clothes, cursing under his breath as he fled the greenhouse to go get ready for school.

Gilbert cackled as he watched the flustered teen all but slam the door shut behind him.

The demon gathered up the blanket that they had used as a mattress before trailing after his Canadian. As he crossed the lawn the familiar weight of Gilbird landed on his head, he reached up and gave the small bird a good morning pat. Once inside, Gilbert tossed the blanket into the laundry basket then made his way to the kitchen.

Only he never got that far.

A strong pair of hands grabbed the front of his hoodie and slammed him into the nearest wall. Gilbert growled and bared his fangs on instinct even as Francis slammed his tail into the wall by his head. The Frenchmen's own fangs were bared and his blue eyes were glowing.

"You took my Matthieu's virginity," He growled out. A statement not a question and for some reason the way Francis had called Matthew his nearly set Gilbert off.

"He's mine now and ja, I did!" Gilbert growled. Their true demon nature threatening to surface and send them headlong into a fist fight, they could almost smell the tension as they stared each other down, eyes glowing and fists clenched.

Time stretched on forever. But suddenly Francis started laughing.

"I'm so happy for you two!" Francis' face split into a wide happy grin and he pulled Gilbert into a tight hug. "Mon bébé a enfin trouvé l'amour!" Francis exclaimed. Gilbert blinked twice in sudden confusion but then started laughing.

"Kesesese! Don't scare me like that. I thought you were going to kill me!" Gilbert said. Francis pulled back and draped an arm around his shoulders, leading him into the kitchen.  
"Make no mistake, Gilbert, you break his heart and I break every bone in your wings," Francis said sweetly. At the mention of his wings Gilbert couldn't help but think back to how gently Matthew had touched them.

"Fair enough," He said and sat down at the kitchen table, his tail loosely curled around the chair leg to keep it out of the way. Francis was humming as he pulled out various pans and started on breakfast. Gilbert leaned his head on his hand and was going to space out when the calendar by the fridge caught his eye.

"Francis…"

"Hmm?"

"About Halloween," Gilbert glanced over at the blonde to find him frozen and stiff. The orange pumpkin on the calendar was almost mocking as it grinned from his place on Friday the 13th of October.

All Hollow's Eve.

* * *

 **Yes I am aware that Halloween is actually on the 31st but I couldn't help myself, Friday the 13th just spells 'Worst Case Scenario'**


	12. Chapter 12

Antonio couldn't believe that he had tried to murder one of his best friends yesterday. He should have known it was really Gilbert just by his fighting style and not to mention his scent. Damn it he was the worst. What really hammered the nail in all the way was when Gilbird appeared, in his demonic form no less!

No other demon in existence was able to keep a pet from when they were alive by their side, animals hated them. Antonio learned that the hard way when he had tried to pet the bull he had owned as a kid. He groaned and buried his fingers into his hair and rested his elbows on his knees, his great bat-like wings folded up at his sides like a clam and his tail curled around his feet.

Antonio didn't care if he was invisible or not, he didn't bother checking either as he sat with his back against a stone wall, it was the only part that wasn't covered in thorny vines. His wounds had stopped bleeding and had healed sometime in the night, he hadn't let himself sleep so he healed a little slower than usual, his clothes were blood stained but he barely noticed. Too busy drowning in self-loathing.

His cross necklace, which he kept just for the irony of it, swayed back and forth as he breathed. His jeans had huge rips in them and his blood had seeped into them, making patches of the fabric stiff and uncomfortable. The white t-shirt he wore was ruined and would need to be thrown away. His tan coat was in the same sorry state. Thankfully his boots didn't receive any damage, replacing those was an impossibility, he had died with them on and so, just for the fun of it, he was trying to keep them in perfect condition for as long as possible.

It was nothing more than a game. Even Gilbert was playing it with his Iron cross. Antonio groaned and pulled on his hair, the tip of his tail started tapping the ground as he kept time, the demon swore to himself that in the count of three he was going to stand up and go look for Gilbert. His tail counted to four but he didn't move.

Ok on the count of 6.

…8 taps. Coward. Antonio curled into an even tighter ball but his tail continued to tap the ground in a steady rhythm. The demon sat there until the morning sun peeked over the far away mountains and gently kissed him. Maybe it would be best to go back to Hell and say that he couldn't find the person responsible for the deaths of the two demons.

Antonio violently shook his head. No, no he couldn't do that because then Beelzebub would just send someone else, someone who wouldn't fail.

"This is terrible. What to do?" Antonio asked himself.

"Well you can start by getting the fuck out of my way," someone growled. Antonio licked his lips before looking up. Standing in front of him was a boy that looked to be about seventeen, maybe sixteen, dark brown hair with a stray curl, brown eyes and a scowl on his young face.

His soul clashed with the image. It had the sharp tang of anger, bitter taste of loneliness, and the spicy taste of jealousy, but all of them were covered by a frosty sensation.

Like when you put a mint in your mouth and then suck in air.

Putting it all together, Antonio read the kid like a book. Older sibling of one, his parents had to spend most of their time taking care of the new baby so he started resenting it, they never had another one so he never got it through his head that a new born took a lot of time and care.

The demon couldn't tell how long ago that was but clearly the jealousy was still with the kid, probably developed into an inferiority complex. Not many friends, maybe only one, definitely lives alone, hence the loneliness. The frosty sensation was a thin layer of fear so he could assume that he was a big talker to cover it, the bigger the talk the more afraid he was but he wouldn't back any of it up.

"Oi, idiota, I said get the fuck out of my way," He snarled. Antonio wanted to growl back but instead he smiled and stood up, folding his wings against his back.

"Lo siento," Antonio said. The boy's eyes widened as he finally saw all the blood on the Spaniard's clothes. His tail swished with amusement at the boy's expression and his happy smile grew until he started chuckling. "That face of yours is so cute!"

"What the fucking hell is wrong with you!? You're fucking covered in blood and you're fucking laughing!? What the hell, bastard!?" the kid screamed. Antonio's chuckling slowly stopped but his smile stayed in place as he noticed that the kid hadn't denied the cute comment.

"It's just blood, it happens all the time. Now, I think I was in your way," Antonio said and moved aside but the boy didn't jump over the wall like Antonio was expecting him to do. The demon licked his lips again. Oh...The boy was too afraid to move so instead he was making conversation.

Antonio took in the boy's appearance again, noting his clothes this time. Jeans with a chain hanging from the belt loop and leading to his back pocket, a wallet chain perhaps, a red shirt and a dark tan coat with cream colored fluff around the hood and a shoulder bag.

"What the fuck are you?" the boy asked, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white.

He had been reexamining Antonio without the demon realizing it.

"I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, my friends call me Toni and I'm a demon, obviously," Antonio said with a tail wag and a bright smile. The boy had already seen his wings, tail and horns…well maybe not the horns those were pretty hard to spot even if they were in plain sight. So what was the problem with openly admitting he was a demon?

The boy took a very deep breath through his nose and then stood as tall as he could and met Antonio's gaze.

"I'm Lovino Romano Vargas, my friend calls me by my first name while my idiota of a younger brother calls me Lovi and I'm a human," Lovino smirked. "Obviously,"

Antonio couldn't help but laugh.

He liked this feisty Italian already.

```

"Lovino, are you ok? Is something bothering you?" Matthew asked as his friend slammed his book down on the desk like he normally dose only this time with a bit more force. Lovino yanked his chair out and slumped into it then crossed his arms over his chest with a huff.

"Yeah, I was having a great fucking day," He growled.

"What happened?" Matthew set down his pen that he had been using to write his replies to the invisible Gilbert who stood at his side.

"I woke up to a god damn phone call from my fratello!"

"U-umm-"

"Shut up I wasn't fucking finished!" Lovino cut off Matthew. The Canadian could hear Gilbert growling, not at all pleased with how Lovino was talking to him. It was unusual for the Italian to be so open about his problems so Matthew quickly bit back anything he was about to say.

"He and the Potato Bastard are coming to visit for Halloween! I don't even fucking celebrate it and why the fuck is he bringing the god damn Potato Bastard!?" Lovino nearly shouted.

Matthew laughed nervously.

Oh god this was beyond awkward for him. This morning Gilbert and Francis had been on edge, they had shared a nervous glance when Alfred had drawn a red slash through the previous day on the calendar and started prattling on and on about the amount of candy he was going to get this year after he saw how close Halloween was.

Matthew had picked up some of the tension from Francis and Gilbert and it hadn't gone away yet. Now Lovino was openly insulting Gilbert's younger brother, who, Matthew had already figured out was one of, if not _the_ most important person to him.

To top it all off he was doing it in front of said Prussian, albeit unknowingly.

Matthew took a deep breath and shifted in his seat to help ease some of the pain in his lower back from last night, a blush formed on his face just thinking about it.

Well the only way to make this better was to make it slightly worse by outright saying 'Ludwig' and letting Gilbert know that the 'potato bastard' was, in fact, who he thought it was and not some other German that Feliciano hung out with.

"Lovino, I don't think you can call Ludwig a 'potato bastard' just because he's German," Matthew said.

"The fucking hell I can't you hockey prick!"

"…Pasta Whore…" Matthew had expected Lovino to blow up on him but a miracle happened instead.

Lovino started laughing.


	13. Chapter 13

This was quickly turning into a cluster fuck, a really big one at that. Not only did Gilbert need to keep Matthew and Alfred safe but now he knew that he had to keep Lovino safe as well, if he wanted Matthew to have any friends after this Halloween. He had planned on just calling Ludwig and straight up ordering him to stay inside along with his little Italian boy toy and whoever else he didn't want to get hurt.

That plan had just been stabbed to death and thrown out the window! With Ludwig and Feliciano coming to visit for the 'holiday', which had been Feliciano's excuse to his brother, it meant that Gilbert was going to have a harder time keeping all five of them indoors, unless it was under the same roof.

What were the chances of Ludwig going over to his boyfriend's brother's friend's house? He wondered.

Lovino was in a mild state of shock, which was clear to Gilbert, as he spilled his guts to Matthew about nearly everything that happened to him that morning. Yeah, this was going to be hard, unless Gilbert got some help from a third demon, but who?

A familiar scent drifted around his nose, it smelled like fresh tomatoes and dirt mixed with sulfur, where was it coming from? Gilbert glanced around, noting that the only new person in the room was Lovino, because he had been running a little late. He could have banged his head off of Matthew's desk for being so stupid.

"I'm gonna go look for Antonio," He whispered into Matthew's ear. The Canadian's hand clenched until his knuckles where white in silent protest. "His scent is all over this kid. The idiot probably didn't even try to hide what he is, if the amount of shock Lovino's in is anything to go by, just meet me on the roof after school." Gilbert ruffled Matthew's hair as he walked away, even though his hand went right through it and not a single hair on his head was disturbed.

Shrugging it off, Gilbert back tracked Lovino's scent through the school building until he was standing on the sidewalk just outside the school grounds. The albino demon pushed his hood off his head to let Gilbird get some fresh air and stuffed his hands inside his pockets as he tried to pick up the Spaniard's scent.

If I was a Spanish demon…Where oh where would I hide? He asked himself. A soft wind blew his hair around his face gently, carrying the smell of sulfur that only demons had with it. Gilbert looked up to find the church across the street that he had slept on when he first came to this town. He took a running start before unfurling his wings and flying up to the roof, his feet kissed the roof softly as he landed.

Oh, yes the scent was stronger up here.

"A church, huh…You trying to relive the days of the Spanish Reconquista?" Gilbert asked loudly and forced a chuckle, hoping that Antonio was still up here and that he wasn't talking to thin air. If he was still up here, well that would be great but it seemed a little too easy but then again maybe he was doing the very same thing Gilbert was doing.

Sticking around to protect someone important to him but, on second thought, did Antonio even have someone like that?

"…Very funny, amigo, but we both know I wasn't alive for that," Antonio's voice came from behind one of the many spikes that decorated the roof. Gilbert walked over to find the Spaniard in his famous 'I'm a clam' ball with his keens drown up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. It was actually a very ingenious use of his wings, they were folded in such a way that his back and sides were protected and left his front open so he would see everything.

Clever but highly uncomfortable.

"Toni, I need your help with something concerning Halloween," Gilbert said and crouched down in front of his friend.

"Does this mean I am forgiven for trying to kill you?" Antonio's voice was hopeful and his green eyes sparkled. Gilbert laughed and clapped his hand on Antonio's shoulder.

"I did that a while ago!"

"What do you need help with?" A determined look settled on Antonio's face.

"Lovino has a younger brother who just so happens to be dating West and they're coming to visit for the 'holiday'," Gilbert used finger quotes. "I want to be able to keep a close eye on West so if you could convince Lovino to take them over to Matthew's house for a 'Halloween party'," again with the finger quotes. "That would defiantly be awesome."

"Consider it done, amigo. If I have too I'll drag them there, I promise on my damned soul." Gilbert smiled sadly and grabbed Antonio's horns then shook the Spaniards head from side to side in the same manner he would to a dog.

"Don't promise on something you don't own."

 **~~Hello, hello! It's me, again, Larry the Time Skip~~**

As promised, Gilbert was sitting on the school's roof waiting for Matthew. His hands where linked together behind his head as he leaned back into a shadowy corner close to the door, one leg was drawn up while the other was left straight out. Gilbird was happily flying around, it was a sunny day after all if not a little nippy, and he was singing his heart out.

Gilbert had that same dreadful feeling he had experienced when he was first drafted and then sent to the battle field. The feeling made him think of all the things he wanted to do that he may not get a chance too. Simple things, silly things, nothing of any importance but would leave lasting memories of warmth and happiness.

The door suddenly burst open with a loud bang. Gilbert looked up to see the familiar sight of Matthew's back. His honey blonde hair shone in the sunlight as he looked around, searching for the demon. Gilbert grinned and snuck up behind him then wrapped his arms around Matthew's waist. He jumped with a small squeak making Gilbert laugh.  
"Don't scare me like that!" Matthew exclaimed and elbowed Gilbert in the gut, not very hard.

"Kesesese couldn't help myself, Mattie," Gilbert said and rested his chin on Matthew's shoulder and kissed his cheek. A slight blush painted the blonde's face. They stayed silent for a moment but then Gilbert spun Matthew around so that they faced each other, his tail slipping Matthew's back pack off and tossing it aside.

Gilbert lifted Matthew's arms and wrapped them around his neck then placed his hands on the boy's hips and started to slowly sway back and forth. Matthew was little tense but as Gilbert swayed them he relaxed and nuzzled into Gilbert's collarbone and tightened his grip around the demon's neck. Gilbert buried his face into Matthew's hair and inhaled his scent.

After a while though, Gilbert couldn't stand it and grabbed one of Matthew's hands then spun him away then yanked him back in as he started to drag him through a simple swing dance. Of course it helped greatly that Matthew was willing to follow the fast paced moves.

Gilbert spun him twice as they danced in a small circle then spun himself, he reached behind himself and led Matthew through a simple move known as a 'back pass', and then Gilbert grabbed both of Matthew's hands and stepped forward diagonally so that their opposite shoulders touched before taking a quick step back and doing it to the other shoulder.

He repeated the three moves twice, silently teaching Matthew how to do it, before he pulled Matthew into the 'pretzel' followed by three 'barrel rolls'. They did the entire thing over and over again until Matthew didn't have to look at their feet anymore or second guess himself.

To Gilbert's delight, he started laughing and putting more energy into. But Gilbert could tell he was getting a little dizzy from all the spins and he gradually slowed them down until they were slow dancing again, wrapped in each other's arms.

Gilbert's tail wrapped around Matthew's waist as his hands were gripping the back of his shirt and holding Matthew closer than before.

Matthew abruptly stopped and leaned back to look up into Gilbert's beautiful red eyes.

"…Gil, what's wrong?" He asked. Gilbert smiled gently and tucked a strand of hair behind Matthew's ear. This boy certainly was observant.

"I'm just realizing that you're going to grow old without me." Gilbert leaned down and kissed him lovingly.

 **~~'Allo, my name is Pierre! 'Arry is current'y in a f'uff coma so I shall be the substitute Time Skip, oui?~~**

It was admittedly hard to fly with Matthew in his arms, he had never flown with extra weight of any kind before, and it wasn't just Matthew but his back pack too. They landed heavily in the back yard, Gilbert couldn't back pedal fast enough and was forced into a half crouch on impact. He set Matthew down and stood back up. Gilbert began walking toward the house but Matthew suddenly grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks, Gilbert looked back to see that Matthew's legs where shaking and he was panting from the adrenaline of flying.

"That was ama-"

"Awesome?" Gilbert cut him off. Matthew looked up at him and nodded, he had a stupid grin plastered on his face and a look of awe in his violet eyes.

"Can we do that again, eh?"

"Kesesese, ja!" Gilbert couldn't help but laugh, Matthew was so adorable, especially with that expression. Snaking his arm around the Canadian's waist, Gilbert helped Matthew into the house; with his invitation allowing him in. The boy stumbled over his own feet more than once and couldn't stop smiling.

Gilbert found that as long as it was Matthew he didn't mind being leaned on.

They walked into the living room to find Arthur helping Alfred with his homework, Gilbert could tell that Arthur was fidgety seeing as he had flown around town a few times just to hear Matthew laugh, making them extremely late getting back. Oh well, he didn't care and by the looks of it, neither did Matthew.

Matthew giggled.

Arthur and Alfred spun around almost at the same time.

"Where have you two been?" Arthur asked. Gilbert slowly let go of Matthew, being sure that he wasn't going to fall over.

"Flying," Matthew giggled again and attempted to walk over to the coffee table to start on his homework but his legs shook too much and he tripped over his own feet. Gilbert took a quick step forward and caught him around the waist before he hit the floor.

"You sure you weren't out drinking, bro?" Alfred asked.

"We weren't drinking," Gilbert said pulling Matthew up and making him stand on his own. "Flying leaves you a little schwindlig from the adrenaline and lack of air up there," Gilbert explained.

Matthew tripped his way over to the coffee table and plopped down on the other side of Arthur, who checked him over to make sure he really was okay.

"Gilbert, I am aware that demons don't need to but please keep in mind that humans need to breathe. I would appreciate it if you didn't go as high next time." Arthur gently scolded.

"Right," Gilbert sighed. "So where's Franny, I need to talk to him,"

"In the kitchen," Arthur mumbled.

"Yeah 'cause dads been banned from it, again," Alfred laughed.

"Do your homework!" Arthur snapped. Gilbert chuckled and left them to find the Frenchmen. Who was, indeed, in the kitchen with his long hair up in a ponytail and a pink apron with white spots on. Gilbert walked over and plucked at the fabric.

"Very manly," he said trying his hardest not to snicker. Francis glanced over his shoulder and smiled.

"Merci, it was a gift from Arthur," He sounded very proud and went back to making whatever it was that he was making, Gilbert didn't really care to figure it out.

"I ran into Toni again," Gilbert said crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the counter. Francis tensed up but didn't say anything, seeing this, Gilbert scoffed. "Mien Gott loosen up! Anyway he's gonna bring Lovino, Feliciano; his little brother, and West over for a 'Halloween Party'. I figured it would be easier to have everyone under one roof,"

"And of course this has nothing to do with the fact that you wish to make sure, yourself because no one is good enough for the job, that your petit frère is safe and sound," Francis smiled.

"So sue me!" Gilbert growled, suddenly defensive, his tail flicked back and forth. Unlike Francis, who had his wings tucked safely away inside his back and his tail wrapped around his torso underneath his loose fitting shirt, Gilbert keep his wings tucked against his back, not bothering to hide them.

"Non, non, you are right. It is better this way so that we can make sure they don't panic,"

"We're gonna have to tell everyone, about what's gonna happen. The sooner the better kind of thing," Gilbert said.

Francis looked up at the ceiling and sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping.

"What an ugly topic for table conversation." Francis and Gilbert lapsed into silence. Gilbert watched Francis make dinner and would occasionally steal a piece of food and eat it. Francis whacked him over the head for it when he got caught. Finally, after 27 whacks to the head and 34 glares later, dinner was done and the demons set the table.

Francis poked his head out of the kitchen door way.

"Oh mes chéris it's dinner time!" Francis called to the living room then retreated back into the kitchen and took a seat. He started to twirl a lock of hair between his fingers. Gilbert had already occupied one and had his eyes down cast, brow creased and a frown on his face and had his tail wrapped around the chair leg with the spaded tip tapping the tiled floor. Neither one would admit it to the other but they were nervous.

Alfred was the first one to come flying into the kitchen, followed by Matthew; who was back to walking normally, and then Arthur. The twins didn't hesitate to dig in but Arthur, noticing something was wrong, studied the demons, they didn't need to eat and only did so in public for show so it was normal for them to sit there just for the sake of being there but they were both uncharacteristically quiet.

Even Gilbird was silent, looking a little deflated, and just sat there in Gilbert's hair.

"Alright what the bloody hell is wrong with you two? Just a moment ago you were acting normal and now you're both so quiet and not even poking jokes at each other," Arthur asked. Both demons flinched at the word 'hell'. The twins stopped mid-chew and all eyes turned to Francis and Gilbert.

The Prussian glanced at the Frenchmen and, after deciding that the blonde wasn't going to be the one to say something, he open his mouth to spit it out into the air and let it fall where it may but Francis stomped on his tail and what came out was a yowl of pain. Gilbert yanked his tail out from under Francis' foot and examined it; a section of it was red and already started to swell.

"That hurt!" He shouted with a glare at the other demon before giving it a soothing lick and tucking it under his hoodie.

"Oh, was that your tail? Sorry I thought it was a snake," Francis said innocently. "Ah but about Halloween, I thought it would be a fun idea to hold a Halloween party here instead of going out to trick-or-treat this year,"

"What?! But papa I was gonna scare the crap out of everyone with my awesome costume!" Alfred whined. Gilbert's eyebrow twitched as the word 'awesome' was used, that was his word damn it!

"Francis, we have never not gone trick-or-treating with the boys, what's this really about?" Arthur asked.

"Uh…Well…umm you see-OWW!" Francis yowled as Gilbert stabbed him in the thigh with a fork.

"That was for my tail," He said then yanked the fork out and placed the bloody utensil on the table before turning to face the humans. "Halloween is on Friday the 13th that means the portal to Earth is going to be wide open that night, allowing the lower level demons to come out and play with the higher level demons," Gilbert gestured to himself and Francis. "We don't really play well with others. Every Halloween is a chance for us to climb the latter and power is everything to us, that's why so many terrible things happen at night, but this year there is going to be more competition for it,"

"It's going to be a free for all," Francis finished for Gilbert as he rubbed his bleeding thigh to help ease the pain.

"What's that mean?" Alfred asked.

Arthur looked like he was going to be sick.

"It means Hell on Earth, kid. Blood, gore, screaming, agony, pain, death…Demon and human, everyone is free game," Gilbert said. "The only safe place is inside your home, where demons can't enter without an invitation,"

"There's one more problem," Francis said and looked at Arthur. "Ever since you removed Gil's horns there's been another demon sent to kill you because the Devil can't sense him anymore, he thinks you're responsible for killing Gil and me. The demon's name is Antonio, fortunately, Gilbert has run into him recently and has been able to convince him to make sure Lovino, Lovino's brother and Gilbert's brother are here for Halloween so that we can make sure they don't do something stupid and get themselves killed,"

"So what's the problem? If this Antonio is on our side I can't see why we need to worry," Arthur said.

Alfred and Matthew were wide eyed and pale as everything sunk in.

"He still has his horns, the Devil can still track him here," Gilbert said.

"So I remove his horns too," Arthur suggested.

"There's not enough time between now and then for Antonio to heal and we need all the help we can get in the event something goes wrong," Francis sighed and combed a hand through his hair.

"Not to mention if you did then everyone would want to find you, maim, and kill you; in that order, to get into the Devil's good graces," Gilbert added.

"And you would know all about that, wouldn't you Prussian?" Francis sneered, suddenly wanting to get under his skin for so much as hinting at the danger his precious Arthur was going to be in.

It worked; Gilbert growled at him and bared his fangs.


	14. Chapter 14

As the days wore on the two demons were more prone to growl and stare each other down. Their anxiety and apprehension was eating at them and had them on edge. Arthur and the twins could tell that they were trying their hardest to not lash out and dive head long into a fight but their best just wasn't good enough.

Francis was walking down the hall one day when Gilbert bumped into him, the former growled threateningly and the latter, being the soldier of the two and not one to simply back down, bared his fangs with a menacing hiss, and the fight was on. It hadn't lasted long and, thankfully, they had managed to keep from drawing blood or wrecking the house and afterwards they had apologized, battered and bruised, they quickly forgave each other and laughed it off.

But the peace hadn't lasted very long and they went back to glaring at each other.  
Gilbert took to spending most of his time down in the basement in a last ditch effort to avoid Francis and keep the house in one piece. Matthew usually went with him and sat in his lap, the demon's strong arms around his waist and his face buried into the Canadian's back, as he did homework. When it was time for bed and only after a long good night kiss, which Gilbert initiated most of the time, Matthew would retreat to his room for the night.  
And then it happened as everyone slept.

With the haunting sound of a church bell in the distance, the twelfth turned into the thirteenth.

Glowing crimson eyes snapped open. The demon they belonged to silently crept out of the cold and dark basement, through the house and stopped at one of the windows in the living room, looking out into the darkness of early morning. Not five minutes later, he was joined by the blue eyed demon. For once, in little less than a week, they didn't growl at each other and simply stood there.

"... _'_ _The one night of the year when creatures of the night have the most power and roam freely. So take care on this night, and wander not by yourself, for tonight of all nights is the worst night to be alone and vulnerable.'_ "Francis quoted.

Gilbert glanced over, Francis' blue eyes were glowing, just like his were and they would remain that way until the day ended. A black shape streaked across the darkened sky, Gilbert glanced up at it; the higher level demons were already coming. Hours later the rest of the house's inhabitants woke up and finally the two demons moved away from the window.

Breakfast was eaten in silence, they were all tense, and afterwards everyone tried to distract themselves. Arthur busted out his embroidery, Matthew and Alfred played Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed, which Gilbert joined in because it looked awesome, and Francis decided to read.

Matthew glanced out the window, figuring it was almost noon, when Gilbert suddenly dropped his controller in favor of slamming his hands over his ears with an almost inaudible hiss of pain. There was a thump, like something hitting the floor, and a breathless yelp from behind. The Canadian jumped and then gently put his hand on the albino's shoulder in a comforting gesture, not knowing what else to do.

"Francis what's wrong!?" Arthur exclaimed with concern. Matthew looked over his shoulder to see that Francis had done the same thing but he was leaning forward slightly. A moment later, Gilbert lowered his hands with a scowl on his face.

"I fucking hate those things," His said, his tail lashing back and forth in irritation.

"Oui, Hellhounds are repulsive, not to mention their howling leaves ones ears ringing," Francis agreed.

"Hellhounds?" Alfred's voice shook even though he tried to hide it.

"Ja, we use them as scouts but sometimes they get a little out of hand and won't shut up," Gilbert grumbled and picked up the controller again. Matthew took his hand off Gilbert's shoulder and pressed up against his side, the warmth radiating off of him made Matthew feel saver, if only by a little. Francis sighed and picked up his book again.  
"It won't be long now," Francis mused returning to his book.

"Nein, a horde of them are already here, they're just waiting and you know it,"

Arthur looked out the window. "What are they waiting for?" he asked apprehensively, he had a pretty good idea but he wanted to hear it straight from the horse's mouth and hoping he was wrong. Francis swallowed thickly and opened his mouth but nothing came out.

Gilbert sighed heavily then gave Alfred and Matthew a pointed look. "Trick-or-treaters and or nightfall, whichever comes first," he said over his shoulder to Arthur. The boys paled and then the house was filled with nothing but the sound of Alfred's games. Tensions rose every time the demons heard a Hellhound and raced to cover their ears, which happened every few hours.

All they could do was wait in fear and anticipation in the quiet before the storm. Their nerves where strung tighter then a bow, so much so that everyone jumped out of their skin when Matthew's cell phone rang. Of course it didn't help that his ring tone was a high pitched siren followed by a robotic female voice proclaiming a nuclear launch had been detected.

Matthew gave everyone an apologetic look before answering it. He held it to his ear for a moment and then held it out to Gilbert; he took it from him and held the phone to his ear.  
"Was?" Gilbert all but demanded, slightly irate.

"G-Gill…Uhm, well something kind of…I'm so sorry amigo," A Spanish accented voice came from the other end. How did he get this number? Oh, duh, he was probably using Lovino's phone. "But it appears that…well…you see-"

"I swear to God, Toni, if you don't tell me what's wrong and stop stalling I will rip your heart out and show it to you before you have a chance to die!" Gilbert growled his tail lashing back and forth behind him. Francis gasped, knowing the Prussian very well meant it but when a demon or angel died they didn't go back to Heaven or Hell, instead, they turned into a star or a black hole and that was the end of them.

In retrospect that might have been a little too harsh but Gilbert's nerves were coiled so tight that he was inches away from starting a fight with Francis just to help ease the pain in his gut. On the other end of the phone, Antonio took a deep steading breath.

"The plane that Feliciano and Ludwig are on is running late," Antonio said.

Gilbert became very still as he let the information sink in.

"…How late?"

"I don't know," Gilbert slowly stood up to pace, trying to keep the raising panic and unadulterated anger in check. Noticing what he was doing, Francis pulled Alfred and Matthew onto the couch on the other side of Arthur, the farthest away from Gilbert, before he got up as well and stood between Gilbert and his family.

The Prussian had lapsed into mumbled German as he paced back and forth. Francis tensed; this was Gilbert's first sign of panic. Gilbert glanced at the clock, Antonio was supposed to bring the three humans over in 20 minutes, but now it would only be the one Italian. How late was the plane? Late enough to land before or after the sun set? If before, could Gilbert make it to the airport and back in time or would they get attacked on the way back? If after...Gilbert shook his head...No, he couldn't think about that.

He couldn't ask Antonio to man up and go pick them up anyway, carting around one human without other demons noticing and attacking was hard enough, two humans would be damn near impossible but three would have been suicide.

Gilbert felt his wings start to twitch so badly they seemed to jerk more than they did twitch. Francis grit his teeth at the second sign of panic, if Gilbert started banging his head against the wall then he was over the deep end and there was no telling what he'd do then.

"Gil, calm down!" Antonio shouted. Gilbert growled, noticing that his breathing was labored.

"…Just get over here as planned and leave the other two to me," Gilbert said and hung up.

He gently set Matthew's phone down before he walked over to the wall and placed his hands flat against it and rested his forehead between them. Gilbert took deep controlled breaths and held perfectly still. Moments later his wings stopped twitching and his breathing was back to normal.

Francis sighed in relief. Gilbert gave the wall a pat before pushing off of it and marched to the counter, where Matthew's phone and a bowl with multiple sets of keys sat; he fished out a pair of keys and turned to Arthur.

"I'm jacking your car," He said, his voice firm and left no room for an argument.

"Hold on a minute. Just where, exactly, are you going all of a sudden?" Arthur stood up.

"Airport," Gilbert said over his shoulder as he made his way to the door. He had his hand on the handle when Matthew grabbed his arm.

"I'm coming with you," he declared.

"No you're not!" Francis, Arthur and Gilbert shouted in perfect and never to be repeated unison. Gilbert glanced at Francis and Arthur before looking to the blonde on his arm.

"Stay here," Gilbert said and yanked his arm from Matthew's hold and opened the door; he didn't have time for this!

"Gi-"The demon's name barely left Matthew's mouth before the boy found his face buried in Gilbert's neck and strong arms holding him close. Warm breath ghosted over his ear when Gilbert leaned down.

"I need you to stay here, okay? I'll be right back," Gilbert whispered.  
"But…w-what if you're not?" Matthew's voice quivered.  
"That's why you need to stay behind. I'll defiantly be back if I know you're the one waiting for me." With that Gilbert quickly kissed Matthew's cheek and left.

```

Gilbert all but slammed the car door shut nearly as soon as it was in park. He yanked the keys out of the ignition and stormed into the airport. It wasn't hard to find gate 2-A, the gate which Feliciano and Ludwig's plane would be landing at, a large monitor above the counter at the gate claimed that the aircraft would be arriving half an hour late. Gilbert stuffed his hands deep inside his pockets and didn't take his eyes off of the door as he paced, invisible of course, he didn't want security on him for looking suspicious with his glowing red eyes.

The clock made an annoying ticking sound that Gilbert was sure he was the only one that could hear it clearly. His tail was wrapped around his torso and his wings tucked inside his back but he still felt them twitch. He paced for what seemed like forever, Gilbert glanced at the monitor. The plane was now estimated to be a full hour late.

Gilbert growled and glued his gaze to the door, willing Ludwig to walk through it, he couldn't bring himself to care about Feliciano anymore. The thought didn't faze him when he knew it probably should have but in all honestly the only person he had actually cared about was Ludwig until Matthew came along. Now he had two people he would do anything for. It felt nice, somehow, but also terrifying.

Where was that damn plane?!

Time stretches when your mind tortures you, making minuets seem like hours, always checking the clock and itching from a mixture of anxiety and or boredom. Gilbert's mind was torturing him, slowly, painfully, filling his head with events that could have happened, always switching from one to another and never giving him a moments rest from the gruesome images.

When the PA System crackled to life, announcing the long awaited arrival of the plane at gate 2-A, Gilbert wanted to release a sob but instead he leaned his shoulder blades against the wall, hips out so that his body wasn't slumping so much as it was leaning, he stood on one foot and crossed his ankles. He kept the hood up and his hands in his pockets.

With a chirp, Gilbird hopped from his head to his shoulder. Gilbert dropped the invisibility and tilted his head down but kept his eyes up, preventing the passersby's from looking too closely at his eyes yet still allowing him to see. The door opened and passengers with heavy carry-ons awkwardly squeezed through, every blonde caught Gilbert's eye but none of them were Ludwig.

Finally the familiar sight of Ludwig's tall and muscular frame came into Gilbert's line of sight. The demon's shoulders visibly slumped as he sighed loudly. Ludwig looked good, healthy, his blonde hair sleeked back like always, he wore a dark green jacket that had a small patch of the German flag on the arm, the jacket was open allowing his black shirt to be seen, along with his own Iron Cross, and his favorite pair of loose fitting, easy to move in, pants that were tucked into his combat boots. Gilbert glanced down at his belt.

Yep, it was the thick leather one he had gotten him back in the day, on the hip was a sheath for the knife Ludwig carried around out of habit more than anything. Gilbert had to wonder how he had managed to keep that on the plane. Maybe the crew trusted a war vet or decided that Ludwig could obviously take the aircraft with or without it so what was the point in taking it in the first place. He hoped it was the former.

Now that Gilbert was looking for it, the very tip of the sheath was visible when Ludwig moved a certain way, causing the jacket to slide up.

Trailing behind Ludwig was the small Italian, chatting up a storm, by the look on Ludwig's face the guy was a real ear banger. If time had allowed it, Gilbert would have let them walk right past him just so that he could sneak up from behind and scare them. He mental waved at the moment as it passed by.

"Hey brohas," Gilbert greeted loudly, speaking over Feliciano, he raised his head and cocked it a little, still keeping his eyes from being noticeable but, unfortunately, the move made him look like a curious dog.

Ludwig stopped dead and looked up from listening to Feliciano. Gilbert grinned at his shocked face.

"I heard you would be in town," Gilbert said and pushed himself off the wall and then, because he couldn't help it, he added. "By the ways did you know you're late?" Gilbert frowned but the mirth in his ruby eyes didn't leave. The corner of Ludwig's mouth twitched up into a small smile, seeing that the barb was meant in a teasing manner.

"What are you doing here, bruder?" Ludwig asked. The question was a double meaning, he was asking what the Devil was having him do in this town and if he needed to worry but he was also inquiring why Gilbert was showing himself when he rarely had in the past. Gilbert kept his face carefully blank.

"Always so cold," He tsked. "How about 'Hi, it's been too long. How have you been? Anything new?'" Gilbert flung his arm around Ludwig's shoulders, having to reach up slightly to do so. This time Ludwig let his smile show. Feliciano knew immediately who Gilbert was; having seen multiple framed photos of the two brothers around Ludwig's house, mainly his office, and had asked about him but the blonde German had always tactfully avoided the questions. He couldn't see why if Gilbert made him smile like that.

"So you must be Feliciano," Gilbert said and extended his hand while gently pulling on Ludwig and leading them toward the exit, knowing full well they were leaving their luggage behind. With a wide grin, the small brunette took his hand and shook it enthusiastically.

"That's me!" Feliciano said with a giggled.

"East," Ludwig said, Gilbert let go of Feliciano's hand and looked back up at his brother. "Are you alright? Your eyes look irritated,"

Another question with a double meaning.

"They'll be fine. As for me…" A sharp pain stabbed Gilbert's forehead, making him wince. He dug two fingers into the spot where the pain was until it turned into a dull pressure "Verdammt!"

"Ve, are you ok?" Feliciano asked with a concerned frown. Gilbert let go of Ludwig.

"Halten ihn fest, das wird schlecht sein," Gilbert whispered. Ludwig grabbed Feliciano's hand, something that seemed to make the brunette extremely happy. If only it could have lasted, Gilbert thought as they rounded a corner and walked into the lobby. Not a second later the entrance and exit doors, labeled by a red lettering above them, burst inward with such force that they came clean off their hinges.

Demons flooded the place, all of them screeching their own cry of victory, there where so many some of them got stuck inside the door way when they tried to push their way in. Just like in all the horror films Gilbert had seen, there was always that one dumb girl who screamed and died first, this was no different. He quickly spun around and clamped his pale hand over Feliciano's mouth to keep him from screaming when the screaming started. The scream drew the attention of dozens of demons and they all dove for her, blocking her from sight. The only way Gilbert knew she was dead was because she stopped screaming.

Gilbert grabbed Gilbird in one hand, curling his fingers around the small bird until he was tightly held in a fist, brought his hand to his mouth and blew. A puff of thick black smoke covered his hand and when he let go of Gilbird, he was a giant black eagle.  
Gilbert ran, slipping inside the pocket Gilbird had created when he burst from Gilbert's hand.

The albino demon didn't slow down, he couldn't lose his momentum, as he ran for the exit door that was blocked up with demons. He collided with the three wolf-like demons that where fighting each other with as much force as he could, digging his shoulder into one of their throats and pushing that one back. Gilbird dove in and, in a mess of feathers and blood, started clawing at the other two demons, distracting them from his master. Using the choking wolf demon as a meat shield, Gilbert pushed him back and punched a hole through the mass of demons at the door; the Prussian had grabbed the demon's hands and was pulling him into his shoulder so that he didn't have a choice but to obey him unless he wanted to choke to death.

Gilbert didn't stop once he got outside; he didn't hear Ludwig or Feliciano scream so he kept running. However he did look back over his shoulder. Ludwig was so close behind him that if Gilbert's tail wasn't curled around his torso he had no doubt that his brother could have reached out and grabbed the base of it.

The German's face was set in a grim frown but his icy blue eyes were lit with something Gilbert himself had, determination and protectiveness. Feliciano's brown eyes were wide and tearful but Gilbert had to give him points on a job well done, the kid struggled to keep up but he didn't complain and he hadn't panicked.

They somehow managed to make it to the car without being spotted, Gilbert yanked the passenger and back door open as he passed before running around and jumping into the driver's seat, it was something Gilbert and Ludwig had gotten down pat during the war and the demon was happy to see that his brother was still as fast at it as he was. Ludwig had Feliciano in the back seat and buckled as Gilbert slammed his door shut and by the time he had the keys in the ignition and the car started, Ludwig had jumped into the passenger seat with a solid 'slam' of the door.

Gilbert put the car in gear and stomped on the gas pedal, he took a moment to be vaguely surprised that he hadn't peeled rubber as the car jumped the curb and sped down the short length of high way back into town.

"Gilbert what the fuck is going on!?" Ludwig shouted once the airport was out of sight. Gilbert glanced around the sky and the ground, no demons; it seemed that they all targeted the airport.

"Halloween…Friday the _thirteenth!_ Portal between Earth and Hell...Ring a bell?" Gilbert shot back. "I would have thought that having a demon for an awesome older bruder would have inspired you to look up old horror stories about demons and Halloween," he grumbled.

Feliciano whimpered from the back and a sob escaped him. Well Gilbert hadn't really expected him to hold up for long. Ludwig turned around, grabbed his hand and started to gently whisper words of comfort and reassurance.

Gilbert glanced sideways at him; somehow the small show of affection threw into sharp clarity that Ludwig, seemingly without Gilbert noticing, had grown up. An odd thing to suddenly realize. Instead of needing to be protected he was the one doing the protecting.

Gilbert smiled.

Though it quickly vanished as they drove into town. Blood and death followed the demons that swooped in and made a quick kill, not stopping to eat the human they just cut down like the demons in the airport.

Hell on Earth.

"Feliciano, I need you to do something for me, can you do that?" Gilbert asked calmly like he was asking a favor.

"S-si," Feliciano whimpered.

"Alright, cover your ears, close your eyes and then I want you to hum your favorite song and picture yourself in an open filed with flowers, ok?" Gilbert said. The car was silent and then softly Feliciano began to hum. Gilbert expertly wove them in and out, up and down the streets. Finding openings between the hordes and taking them, fully committing without hesitation. He felt like a solider again.

Up until now Gilbert had been able to ignore the pain in his forehead but suddenly it spiked.

Gilbert slammed his foot on the brake, nearly slamming Ludwig's face into the dash board. Thank God for seatbelts right? A loud, soul numbing, roar shook the car. Feliciano squeaked from his place in the back. Gilbert stared down the crowded road the car was facing, carefully, he reached down and shifted gears and rolled down his window. Demons of all shapes and sizes where mercilessly killing the trick-or-treaters, blood splattered on the sidewalk and on the road, many demons where flying and fighting each other over the humans that were left.

The car shook again as the beast Gilbert felt coming roared again. Out of the corner of his eye; Ludwig was nervously glancing back and forth between the horrifying scene and Gilbert's clam face. Suddenly a traffic light on the other end toppled over, sparks flew and set someone's grass on fire and the demon Gilbert had been waiting for appeared. It looked like a Minotaur but this thing had armor on it and two sets of horns. The back set curled like that of a ram while the front set where straight like a bulls.

"Oh look at that, they brought the monsters along too, that's nice." Gilbert said sweetly, as if it was a pleasant surprise.

"East?" Ludwig asked his voice hard and had an uncertain tone to it. The Minotaur tossed its head from side to side, clubbing anyone within range, when it stopped its black eyes locked on to Gilbert's red ones. It lowered its head, clawed at the ground and gave a warning snort; steam billowed from its flaring nostrils. Gilbert revved the engine and then the Minotaur charged, its giant hooves created dents in the asphalt and the ground shook.

Gilbert peeled rubber as he stomped on the gas pedal and sped toward it.

"Bruder…" Ludwig's voice was harsher this time; he grabbed the handle above the door and pushed his back into the leather seat, casting a concerning look over his shoulder to Feliciano before looking ahead again. Gilbert smirked and reached over to Ludwig's belt, without taking his eyes off the road, and tore the knife from its holster. The Minotaur swung its great head, its horns coming straight for them on the driver's side.

"GILBERT!" Ludwig screamed.

Gilbert pulled the emergency break with his tail and spun the wheel.

The car was thrown into a hard cookie, narrowly missing the horns as the back of the car was swung out of the way and the car slid between the demon's legs. Gilbert thrust his arm out of the window; it was jerked harshly, and almost pulled him out of the window, as the knife severed the artery inside the Minotaur's upper thigh.

The sudden force on his arm sent a painful jolt to his shoulder, making him grunt, Gilbert spun the wheel again and abruptly came out of the cookie, flooring the gas pedal; he nonchalantly reached over and put the bloody knife back in its sheath on Ludwig's hip.

Ludwig turned around to watch the Minotaur scream and fall to one knee as it clutched the other leg as blood gushed out of it.

"It was a lot of fun being one of those, lot of blind spots though." Gilbert remarked. Ludwig turned to face him as the albino shifted.


	15. Chapter 15

The house came into view, not too surprisingly, there weren't many demons on this street. No one was outside so the demons didn't bother. Gilbert parked Arthur's car back where it belonged. Ludwig and Gilbert spilled out of the car at the same time, everyone else may speak at the same time but they often moved as if they could read each other's mind and know what the other would do next and be at their side if need be. Gilbert stood watch as Ludwig got Feliciano out of the car, almost having to pull him out because he was too scared to move.

As soon as his feet hit the ground Gilbert yanked them along toward the house and, with a low whistle, commanded Gilbird to stick with Ludwig.

"Gilbert, get in here!" Francis shouted as he swung the door open and behind him was Antonio, for once not having a smile on his face. Ludwig pulled Feliciano along, making him run again. Gilbert was about to follow when he saw something blue coming at him, reflexively, Gilbert planted his feet and leaned back, causing his hood to fall off his head.

The blue thing nicked his jaw then retreated.

Gilbert straightened and faced the direction the thing had come from, putting his back to the house. Standing there was a girl with glowing green eyes, turquoise hair that she put in a high pony tail but left some strands by her jaw hang lose. On her head was a baseball cap. The blue thing was her tongue, which was stuck out and coiled like rope by her feet. From what Gilbert could tell she hadn't climbed the latter high enough to be able to fly nor did she have a tail.

She smirked at him, clearly not thinking much of him. Barbs on her tongue suddenly sprang up making it look like a rose stem.

"Holy shit," Gilbert mumbled under his breath.

"Bruder!" Ludwig called. She made the mistake of glancing over and Gilbert lunged with a feral growl, it was more like a roar from a tiger then a growl. Gilbert slammed his shoulder into her chest, knocking her back a few feet and onto her back. She rolled and jumped to her feet. With a hiss she ran at him and hopped, bringing her knee up to deliver a blow to his throat.

Gilbert blocked in the nick of time but she kept pressing with kick after kick, rarely using her fists. She managed to hit him in the ribs; he sidestepped out of range and punched her as hard as he could in the back, just to the left of her spine, arching her back dramatically. Her scream sounded like a bat call. Gilbert didn't let up, he lashed out with everything he had and when she started using her barbed tongue, he counter attacked with his tail.

As the fight continued Gilbert noticed that her tongue could grow longer, not from the base but from the tip of it. Grinning, he rushed her, taking the cuts and blows that rained down on him from the damn thing. It bent at an angle that would act like a flick when it hit him. When not if. Her tongue collided with his shoulder, the barbs dug in deep but Gilbert ignored them and reached out as far as he could and grabbed her tongue as close to her mouth as possible.

Her green eyes widened in a sudden panic and that's when Gilbert knew he had her. With a harsh yank, that he doesn't just use his arm for but his entire body, Gilbert pulled her to him and sidestepped. Tripping her as she passed, the hold on her tongue jerked her body around so that she landed on her back. Before she could recover, Gilbert buried his tail into her throat. She stopped fighting and then abruptly turned into a pile of dust.  
Gilbert's labored breaths and his blood rushing is the only sounds that fill his ears, he can't even hear Francis and Antonio shouting at him to get inside the house, he looked down.

At the dust.

He suddenly felt cold, like the first time he had killed an enemy solider, at first he had liked it because it meant that he was better but after the battle he couldn't stop shaking. He thought that the life he took was over but now he knew that it hadn't ended, it just took another road. But the demon he had killed was nothing but a black hole or maybe a start, her soul was gone and he had done it.

A dark chuckle sounded behind him and a tremor ran down his spine, his heart raced and he felt paralyzed. He didn't show it though.

"That's why you're my favorite," the voice purred. Gilbert looked up and met Matthew's gaze from behind the window that looked out at the front yard, his violet eyes wide and fearful.

Gilbert calmly looked over his shoulder and came face-to-face with Beelzebub in all his 9 foot glory, his black hair tucked back behind his ears and his horns curving up and around his head and hat. His wings looked like they'd been torn some more and had dried blood hanging onto the leathery parts. His tail swung behind him in amusement. Like Gilbert was just a child and had done something that was funny when he was trying to be serious.

"Taking life without hesitation, taking what you want when you want it and without a care for the possible consequences and what's my favorite part about you, Gilbert, is that you enjoy it. Don't give me that face when you know it's true," Beelzebub laughed.

Yes, that was true. Gilbert _had_ enjoyed it...when he first started but now he was just tired of it. Without any reason that Gilbert could see, Beelzebub suddenly tipped his hat to him.

Gilbert's eyes widened, he doubled over and dry heaved, understanding dawned on him.

In the Devil's eyes, the only eyes that mattered, Gilbert was just as evil, just as vile, as he was.

An equal.

That was why he tipped his hat to him.

To make him remember that fact.

"I am truly going to miss you but I see you willingly removed your horns and I can't let that slide," Beelzebub sighed but then shrugged and drew a sword, he came at Gilbert. The Prussian didn't have time to move out of the way, he curled one wing around himself. There was a blur and the sound of steel on steel before a sudden cloud of dirt and grass exploded into the air around him.

When it settled, which took a few agonizing moments; Antonio was in front of him, battle axe raised in a parry with Beelzebub's sword. The Spaniard's arms where trembling and he stood in a dent in the earth that must have been the cause for the dirt cloud. Beelzebub wasn't smiling anymore. He disengaged and spun a full 360, his tail caught Antonio in the side and sent him flying across the yard and into the stone wall that separated this house from the next one over.

"Toni!" Gilbert shouted and moved to run to him but Beelzebub's knee caught him in the gut and sent him flying in the opposite direction. He crashed into the side old oak tree, taking a huge chunk out of the wood as he passed and skid to a stop. Matthew, Ludwig and Francis cry out but their shouts don't resister with him.

Grunting in pain and trying to ignore the fact that he is seeing double and not ever well, Gilbert slowly stood back up; a sharp agony tore through his right wing. He didn't want to look at it but he did anyway, the leathery part was badly torn, huge ribbons of flesh were missing and huge splinters of wood were sticking out of it, he cursed.

Suddenly Beelzebub was looming over him and his smile was back. He's enjoying this, Gilbert realizes. Beelzebub slashes down at him, Gilbert narrowly dodged by running into Beelzebub's defenses, making him over reach and putting Gilbert in the perfect position to strike. But all he can do is play keep away, for now, and he runs to Antonio.

The Spaniard's head was bleeding, blood trickling down the side of his face and dripping off his jaw. When Gilbert reaches him, he's managed to haul himself up into a crouch but he was wobbling, like the world was spinning around him. Gilbert is sure he's bleeding too but he can't feel it.

"Get up!" Gilbert shouted and pulled Antonio to his feet. Antonio's tail worked to keep him balanced as he stood uncertainly. By the time he looked up, Beelzebub was calmly strutting over to them.

"Oh we're gonna die." Antonio mumbled.

"Let's make it awesome, eh, Toni." Gilbert grinned and looked over at the Spanish demon. A sick grin made its way onto Antonio's face; the same grin was already on Gilbert's.

"Now, now, chers amis de la mine. Do not think about having all the fun without me," Francis said and came to stand on the other side of Gilbert, his own sword drawn at the ready. The three friends smiled at each other and side by side they stood and faced the demon of all demons. They were _fighters_ damn it and they refused to go down without a bloody one.

Beelzebub frowned and charged at them, when he came within range, he swung his sword in a wide arch, probably hoping to get all three of them at once. Antonio stepped forward and blocked it then twisted his axe and knocked it off course. Francis and Gilbert ran forward and started raining blows down on Beelzebub.

With Gilbert's wing out of commission, Francis took it upon himself to hit high, having to flap once in order to get there, and left Gilbert to strike low and Antonio got what was left. Blood splattered the ground, their clothes, their hands and faces, and stained the steel of their weapons. Arthur had never seen anything like it, even though he'd seen Francis fight before, but this was gruesomely beautiful. The humans inside the house watched in awe as the three demons took hits that sent them flying and tumbling.

They recovered quickly and launched back into the fray, the team work they demonstrated was unlike anything anyone could have imagined. Openings were never open for long and if one demon had left a vulnerable spot then one of the others would cover it. Gilbert raised his sword just in time to meet Beelzebub's but the force of the blow made his leg give and he fell to one knee, Antonio raced forward and blocked the tail that was coming at him then Francis planted his foot on Gilbert's back and pushed off of him and buried his sword into Beelzebub's chest.

The Devil grabbed Francis's sword hand and half turned away from the other two as he slammed him into the ground, creating another dent, then he swung him and used him to knock Antonio and Gilbert aside. Beelzebub twisted Francis's arm until the angle of it forced him to drop his sword, his tail wrapped around his throat and hoisted him up off the ground.

Antonio and Gilbert were struggling to stand up, blood lose and exhaustion taking their toll. Francis grabbed onto Beelzebub's tail in an attempt to stop himself from choking as his legs kicked in thin air. Beelzebub grabbed ahold of Francis's wings. The Frenchmen thrashed harder, panicking.

"No!" Antonio screamed. A sick grin painted itself onto the Devil's face then, with a harsh jerk, tore Francis's wings off his back; they turned to dust in his hands. Somebody screamed, who exactly Gilbert couldn't tell, blood cascaded down Francis's back and dripped off his feet. He hands dropped to his sides and his feet stopped kicking, he had stopped thrashing all together.

Having your wings torn off was supposedly the equivalent of having your body torn to pieces, Gilbert couldn't imagine it.

Beelzebub laughed and dropped Francis. His body fell into a heap.

"Son of a bitch!" Antonio screamed and charged at him again. Gilbert's blood boiled, he screamed a wordless cry and followed Antonio, ignoring the pain and fuzzy vision, he had gained his second wind and was fighting with everything he had. Together they drove Beelzebub back and kept him away from Francis. They were sweaty and breathing harshly but neither one of them slowed or let up.

Beelzebub somehow managed to bitch slap Gilbert so hard that he crashed to the ground and left a Gilbert shaped dent. The Prussian tried to get back on his feet but only managed to get on his elbows when there was a shriek.

Gilbert looked over his shoulder. Beelzebub had Antonio held in the air by his wings while his tail, arms and legs thrashed around, he looked like a cat held by the scruff, trying to get a hit on him that would make him let go but it didn't work. Grunting and gritting his teeth against the pain, Gilbert pushed himself onto his hands and knees as he desperately tried to regain his footing enough to save his friend however he was shaking too much. The sound of ripping sounded above him, followed by a scream from the house; Lovino, Gilbert would bet, and then the sound of a body hitting the ground and bouncing before coming to a stop.

Gilbert winced as a hand roughly grabbed a hold of his hair and pulled him up. He bit his lip to keep from screaming. Beelzebub threw him to the ground on his stomach then straddled his knees, his tail shot out and pinned Gilbert's to the ground. He struggled as best as he could but even then his arms were forced above his head, his hands overlaid each other and then Beelzebub's sword sank into the soft flesh and into the ground underneath them.

Gilbert screamed. Ludwig yelled and Matthew sobbed harder. Gilbird shrieked.

Smiling, Beelzebub reached down and harshly grabbed Gilbert's destroyed wing, crushing the pieces of wood in deeper and shattering bones. He grabbed the other one.

"Any last words from my Last Prussian?" He asked sickly sweet.

"Ja," Gilbert coughed then smiled over his shoulder at him. "Ich bin nicht deine."

Beelzebub glared at him before ripping his wings off. The last thing Gilbert heard was Matthew screaming.

```

Matthew watched, helplessly, as the Devil ran Gilbert's hands through with his sword and then grabbed his wings and asked if he had any last words.

"Ich bin nicht deine." At those words Ludwig, standing beside and slightly behind him, choked on a sob. Even though Matthew had lost his Papa and was about to lose his boyfriend, he still felt his heart burst with pride that Gilbert was brave enough to go out kicking, fighting and defiant as ever.

Off with his wings.

Gilbird shrieked painfully and was forced back into his normal form. A scream of agony tore from Matthew's throat and uncontrollable tears rolled down his face. He could hear his dad and brother cry over his Papa, heard Lovino whimper over his own broken heart at the loss of Antonio, Feliciano was curled in a corner and crying out of fear, but none of them were as ragged and heavy with grieve as Ludwig's sobs.

Beelzebub stood and yanked his sword out of Gilbert's hands then turned his head to them, he was grinning happily. He bent down and grabbed Gilbert's hair again, pulling his upper body off the ground.

"Stop," Ludwig mumbled, if the Devil heard him he didn't show it. The sword was laid against his jugular, the hilt rested against his chin. What was the point in slitting a dead man's throat? Matthew's eyes widened because there wasn't one, Gilbert, Francis and Antonio were still alive. That was why the Spaniard and Prussian had defended the Frenchmen, Matthew had thought his Papa was already dead but he was just passed out.

Beelzebub pressed the blade into Gilbert's pale neck, even paler now as his blood flowed freely down his sides and stained the grass.

"Make it stop, Fritz, bitte." Ludwig pleaded and let the tears escape from his eyes. Fritz, what could he do? Matthew wondered. Just then a sudden lighting blot struck the ground beside Gilbert, the electric shot knocked Beelzebub back and lit up the street with a blinding light. Matthew had to shield his eyes from it but when he lowered his hands there, standing resolutely between Gilbert and Beelzebub, was a man with deep laugh lines around his mouth, silver hair only slightly darker then Gilbert's tied at the nape of his neck in a ponytail with a blue ribbon that matched his eyes.

On his back was a pair of pure white feathered wings, but oddly enough there was no halo though his hair did seem to glow.

"Keep your hands off my godson." Fredrick said calmly as he drew a sword and leveled it at Beelzebub's throat.

"He's my demon, angel," he spat the word. "I can do whatever I want with him regardless of family ties," he growled. Fredrick smiled smugly.

"You tore his wings off," He said it slowly like the words themselves tasted sweet. "He's no longer a demon," Two more bolts of lightning touched down, one beside Francis and the other beside Antonio. The one beside Francis was a man with a stern face, long blonde hair brushed back from his face like Ludwig's but his had a single thin braid on each side and blue eyes.

Lovino gasped. The angel beside Antonio was a brunette with unruly curly hair and stubble.

"Nonno?" Lovino asked in a whisper. Feliciano's head snapped up, he then scurried over to the window. Not soon after he gasped as well. Beelzebub snarled.

"There are rules and you have to follow them just like the rest of us," The blonde angel stated. "These boys aren't demons anymore, these are just their souls in limbo, if you will, and therefore we have the right to fight you for them."

"Which we will if need be." The brunette added.

"It doesn't really look like you're up to the challenge." Fredrick said. Beelzebub was covered in blood, admittedly not all of it was his, yet it was easy to see that the Bad Touch Trio had done enough damage. He growled but sheathed his sword, making it disappear in a puff of red smoke, before pivoting on his toe and launching himself into the air.

Immediately, the three angels knelt and carefully picked up the soul that they had been guarding, Fredrick cradled Gilbert closely to his chest. Ludwig ran out the door and straight to his brother and godfather. Taking the hint or just no longer caring about the possible danger of other demons, Lovino and Feliciano, Arthur and Alfred ran to Antonio and Francis. Matthew moved to follow but stopped, not knowing who to run too. Yes Francis was his Papa but Gilbert was the only person that Matthew had loved.

He opted to just fall to his knees on the grass and watch them both.

"He'll be ok, Lud," Fredrick said and clasped his hand on the blonde's shoulder. Blue eyes met blue and Ludwig nodded. Fredrick smiled gently then turned his attention back to Gilbert; he swept the sweaty hair from his forehead and held him closer. Carefully, Fredrick leaned down until his lips brushed Gilbert's ear and then he started to sing. Not long after that, the blonde and brunette's voices joined his.

It was so beautiful that words alone couldn't express it and it made Matthew's heart ache because of it. Gilbert, Francis and Antonio started to fade, literally, Matthew could see through them. Gilbert started to glow faintly and then small balls of light floated up and away from him, with each ball of light, Gilbert grew fainter and fainter until he was gone. Matthew looked to Francis but he was already gone.

Matthew let his head fall forward and the tears overflowed, his shoulders shook with each hiccup. He hadn't realized that someone was walking toward him until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, he didn't care who it was so he didn't look up but then the person grabbed his hand and pressed something small and cold into his hand and curled his fingers around it.

Matthew slowly uncurled his fingers and gasped, it was Gilbert's Iron Cross. The small Canadian's head shot up to meet the ice blue eyes of Ludwig.

He forced a small smile.

It's hard to say who cried the hardest that night though it could be argued that it was Arthur and yet it could also have been said that it was Matthew's heart that had suffered the worst of it. Alfred laid his head in Matthew's lap, letting his twin find comfort in his hair, as he ran his fingers through it and cried. His tears ran down his nose, hunched over Alfred as he was, they landed on the American's face and ran down his cheeks as well.

Ludwig didn't cry; dealing with the death of his brother, for a second time, had made him numb and unresponsive. Lovino choked back whatever tears he had while Feliciano cried so much that it seemed as if he was crying not only his tears but Ludwig's and Lovino's as well.


	16. Chapter 16

The book store was a nice one, small on the outside, but on the inside it was huge. The ground floor was dominated by a coffee shop surrounded by glass to protect the people inside from the cold breeze that would blow in during the winter time whenever someone entered the store. The book store was in the atrium of the lower level so that the customers in the coffee shop could look down on you.

He felt like a fish in a bowl. Matthew reached up and toyed with the Iron Cross that rested on his chest. The blonde had put it on a different chain then what he had had it on, instead of a simple chain, it had black beads on it as well. It made it look somewhat like a rosary and almost every customer that bought books from him would look at it. Matthew had a sudden urge to hide it under his shirt when one guy eyed it a little too fondly.

Overall, he couldn't complain about his job and he was actually as happy as he could be. Alfred and Matthew had moved out and had rented an apartment together, to save money while still being out of the house. Arthur didn't want them to go, he clung to them until Alfred had gently pried him off and had promised that they would both come and visit when they were able.

Matthew kind of felt bad for leaving his dad all alone in the house that held so many happy and sad memories.

The store had closed a few minutes ago and Matthew was cleaning up, rearranging the books that had been knocked over, making sure all of the books that had been set down carelessly where back on their proper shelf and giving the carpet a quick vacuuming.

He was just putting the small vacuum into the supplies closet when his eyes caught sight of a rather thick documentary book on World War Two. Reaching up on his tip toes, Matthew plucked the book off the high shelf and examined it. All of a sudden, he had a feeling of being back in history class, flipping through this very same book looking for the answer to the question 'How many soldiers died in WW2?'

Matthew had been confused by the question because it hadn't specified which side so he had been flipping through three different pages trying to count them all. That was when he had first talked to him, telling him the answer.

"Damn hoser," Matthew whispered to the book and gripped _his_ Iron Cross. The empty bookstore was eerily silent as small tears ran down Matthew's face; the only sound being his ragged breathing and hiccups.

"…You know I never could stand to see you cry," A scratchy voice whispered. Matthew gasped and whipped around. There, standing in front of him with a rich blue, button up shirt, baggy black pants tucked into tall boots that almost reached his knees and a polar bear plushie in his hand.

Was the angel Gilbert.

Soft white wings with black primary feathers folded neatly against his back, the same silver hair, glowing to imitate a halo, and the same red eyes with the same mischievous laughter in them. Those familiar eyes glanced down at the book in Matthew's hand, then at the necklace before finally landing on his face again.

"I also never got the chance to ask you, officially, if you would be awesome enough to be my boyfriend," Gilbert smirked. "That is as long as you don't mind hanging out with a dead guy, kesesese."

Matthew dropped the book and ran to Gilbert; he flung his arms around his neck, pulled him down and smashed their lips together. Matthew kissed him as hard as could as if trying to prove to himself that Gilbert really was standing right in front of him. Something hit the floor and then a strong arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer, and a hand buried itself in his hair as Gilbert kissed him back just as desperately.

Gilbert flicked his tongue over Matthew's lower lip, asking for entrance, Matthew opened his mouth and was immediately met with the pink muscle. He moaned as Gilbert remapped the hot cavern, doing little things with that skilled tongue that made Matthew's knees weak. Good thing he was holding him.

A thought occurred to the not-as-small-anymore-but-still-smaller-then-Gilbert Canadian.

He pulled back and roughly pushed Gilbert away, his hurt and confused look was met with a glare.

"What kind of a guy asked someone to go out with them _after_ they've fucked them, eh!?" Matthew whisper shouted and punched Gilbert's arm.

"Oi, that was not fucking that was..." Gilbert blushed, actually _blushed_ , and averted his eyes.

" _Was?_ " Matthew prompted. Gilbert mumbled and picked up the polar bear plushie he had dropped. "I'm sorry I can't hear you," Matthew said.

"I said it was...muvmumng,"

"One more time,"

"...Muvemuming..."

"Love making?" Matthew drew out the 'o' and the 'a', a sly grin on his face. Gilbert glared, or tried too but it wasn't very intimidating with that blush on his face.

"Yes, damn you," He said and pushed the bear into Matthew's chest then let go, forcing him to hold it instead. Matthew held it close and laughed.

"So how about it?" Gilbert asked. Matthew chewed his lip, pretending to put a lot of thought into it, Gilbert waited.

"I never really minded hanging out with a dead guy so...yes, Gilbert, I'll go out with you," Matthew grinned and Gilbert swore he would find ways of making him do that more often.


	17. Chapter 17

A cute girlish sneeze came from his right, the albino smiled down at his Canadian.

"Cold?" he asked and draped one of his great feathered wings across his shoulders. The albino, Gilbert the angel, wasn't worried about being seen like he normally would. Why? Because he and his boyfriend, Matthew, were walking deeper and deeper into a forest that Gilbert had taken him too.

"A little," Matthew said and leaned closer into Gilbert's side, his polar bear plushie held tightly against his chest. A year had passed since that horrible Halloween, the air was cold and crisp, and the leaves had changed from green to a variation of yellows, oranges and reds.

"Whatever this is fucking stupid," a voice growled. Gilbert smirked.

Oh no it's not, he thought.

Matthew looked over his shoulder at Lovino, who had his arms crossed and was pouting. The blonde figured it was because Gilbert had woken him up so early in the morning proclaiming 'Today is going to be awesome so get your ass out of that bed cause we have places to be and people to bang!'

Matthew shook his head in embarrassment just remembering that.

After that, Gilbert had flown them to this forest and had left them there and had come back with Arthur and Alfred. By that time Ludwig and Feliciano had pulled up in Ludwig's truck. Lovino had grumbled something about potato bastards, fucking truck and its cold as hell.

So here they were hiking into the forest and of course whenever someone asked why, Gilbert would look at them with a sly and mischievous smirk.

"Ve~ This is actually kind of fun!" Feliciano exclaimed from his spot beside his brother. Lovino grumbled.

"Dude, c'mon just tell us where you're taking us," Alfred whined and leaned on Arthur, who sighed heavily, he had accepted that Gilbert wasn't going to say anything a long time ago but Alfred, clearly, had not. Matthew pitied him, his brother was not a morning person and they had been walking for a while now. Ludwig seemed to be a little put off by Gilbert's antics but it was obvious that he was happy to be out here with him.

"Kesesese, suck it up losers and have fun!" Gilbert shouted. Matthew wasn't sure if the 'losers' part was a tease or meant as a barb to get them fired up.

"Bruder," Ludwig said firmly, warningly. Gilbert turned to his left and jabbed a finger into Ludwig's chest.

"Especially you, West! Lighten up, I mean you're out in the woods, enjoying this fresh air, surrounded by all this awesomeness and you got yourself a hot little boy toy-by the way have you nailed him yet?" Ludwig promptly turned scarlet and seemed to have been rendered speechless.

"Nailed me to what?" Feliciano asked. Alfred burst out laughing, loud and boisterous. Ludwig sputtered for a moment before deciding it was best to hit Gilbert over the head, which he did. Matthew giggled.

"Might we have a change in subject? Though I quite agree that it is lovely out here," Arthur said as they stepped out of the thick trees and into a meadow. It was beautiful, the morning dew hadn't evaporated yet and they could hear running water from somewhere close by, the birds were chirping and the weak sunlight shone down and caught on the dew, making the whole field sparkle.

Matthew's breath caught in his throat.

"Mi tomate!" A blur of brown streaked by. Gilbert and Matthew spun around to follow its movement.

"Chigi!" Lovino found himself being tackled by a very enthusiastic Spanish angel. Gilbert laughed and watched Antonio pull the squirming Italian into his lap and plant a kiss to his cheeks and his forehead before holding him tightly against his chest.

"Get off me damn it!" Lovino's protest was muffled but Antonio hadn't seemed to have heard him. Feliciano was giggling at him. "Shut up Feli!" Lovino shouted and managed to half way sit up and glare at Antonio. "It's not like I'm happy to see you so let go!"

"Sure you're not," Alfred snickered. "That's why you're so red!"

A flash of yellow caught Gilbert's eye, he let a grin spread across his face. Francis held a finger to his lips, tell him to be silent. In a blur of movement, Francis had gotten behind Arthur, wrapped his arms around his waist and hoisted him into the air.

"It's so great to see you again mon amour!" Francis exclaimed as he twirled around a few times.

"Ah! Francis you bloody fool, don't scare me like that and put me down so I can hug you properly!" Arthur shouted, his words came tumbling out in one breath. Matthew broke free from under the weight of Gilbert's wing and jumped onto Francis's back, being very careful not to hit his wings. Alfred flung his arms around Francis's neck; the sudden extra weight caused him to stumble.

Alfred let go as Francis released Arthur but Matthew didn't until Francis asked him too. The Frenchmen then grabbed Arthur into a 'proper' hug and pulled his sons in with his wings.

Gilbert had to chuckle at the sight.

A group hug of blondes.

Judging by the smiles and fits of laughter it was safe to say that the early and rude awakenings were worth it.


End file.
